Rouge
by Gabriela Romero
Summary: The Newberry twins' stay at Bullworth Academy was swift and disastrous. Having been expelled from their previous school, neither was keen on leaving an impression, yet they inadvertently made a significant mark upon the lives of Gary, Jimmy, and Petey. GaryxOC and JimmyxOC.
1. Philippa and Gwendolyn Newberry

_Act I: "Now Is the Start"_

**~~~ooooo~~~**

**Chapter I: Philippa and Gwendolyn Newberry**

Philippa Newberry hadn't stepped out of the taxi cab and she already hated this town. Pale skinned, stuck up, and terribly gloomy civilians littered the small town of Bullworth, and to think that this would be the place she was supposed to call home for the next nine months. Quite dandy. She rolled up her window the moment the car neared the gates of what she presumed would be her new home, Bullworth Academy, haughtily turning to the person resting on her shoulder.

Brown haired and brown eyed, Gwendolyn Newberry was her spitting image, her twin sister. She slept blissfully by her side as if unfazed by what was to come, her long neck slightly bent in an awkward sleeping position. Philippa nudged her a little too painfully, and the drowsy girl immediately sat up, startled and confused.

"Gwen, we're here." Philippa droned miserably, also straightening out as the cab pulled in to the driveway in front of the school gates.

Their mother, who sat stiffly by the passenger seat, stepped out of the car and was already shouting at the driver to take the luggage out to the gates.

"Pick up your things! I don't have until the end of the world, be quick about it!" Her mother ordered them with that annoying British accent of hers.

Phil and Gwen each took their luggage, though Phil only brought one measly suitcase, and she watched her sister struggle with her luggage, amused. The moment they stepped away the taxi driver leaned by the side of his car, inconspicuously pulling out a cigarette and smoking to his heart's delight while he waited for their mother's return.

No one had come to the gate for them. Their mother led the way, the twins following right after as they walked past school grounds. Phil watched tall senior students in suits scream out commands and threats as teenagers fought and yelled and laughed, her apprehension mounting when one of them tackled a short, bald teen that had picked a fight with a brute twice his size. She wriggled her nose in disgust as she watched all the boys with their mud-stained, wrinkled uniform blouses (was that red stain blood she saw in one of them?) and finally her attention turned on Gwen, who had begun to lag behind her.

"Oi!"

Gwen quickly caught up, heaving her two suitcases. Her eyes had been on a small group of preppy teens that were gathered by the gardens, and Phil could only guess why. "You wanna compete at who gets the most guys?" Gwen merrily asked her. The reason they were in Bullworth Academy in the first place was because her sister had been caught in bed with a boy in their last boarding school. Gwen _loved _boys, and moving to a new stinking boarding school was not going to change that.

"We know who'd win—"

"Girls!" Their mother stood by the stairs that led to the main entrance, exasperated as she realized she would have to help her daughter in carrying the suitcases up the steps. This was their punishment, after all.

"Would you like some help?" Startled, the twins turned to the two tall boys that had suddenly approached them. The tall one sported tidy brown hair, while the one who had undoubtedly spoken (he was extending his hand out) had blond hair and the prettiest eyes Phil had seen so far in this dingy town. They both wore blue checkered vests and expensive shoes.

"Why yes!" Gwen suddenly exclaimed, before their mother could interject.

The blond teen snapped his fingers, and in the blink of an eye the brown haired boy held Gwen's bags, and from out of nowhere a black boy wearing that same vest took hold of Phil's bag. Their mother glared, mumbled something incoherently, and up the stairs they went.

The main hall in the school housed, not surprisingly, the same amount of shady characters. This school was the replica of a stereotypical American high school, only that the insanity of the cliques seemed to be turned up a notch. Bullies ran amok, and Phil guessed that the suited seniors were prefects, for they seemed to rule the hallways with an iron fist. She saw nerds being stuffed into lockers, and almost gaged when she glanced at a particularly obese kid that was barfing into a garbage can.

Her brown eyes turned to look at her sister, hoping to see a similar reaction, but the girl was too engrossed in a conversation with the tall blond boy, while his lackeys walked by Phil's side.

"You guys are twins," the brown haired boy pointed out. _No duh?_ EVERYONE that met them had to _always_ state the obvious.

"Actually we're not," Phil rolled her eyes.

"Huh?"

But their mother spared her. They had reached the principal doors, it seemed, and she was glaring daggers at the three boys that lingered by her daughters.

"Thanks," Phil faked a smile and took her suitcase from the dimwit.

"Oh my dearest!" A voice exploded from behind a desk and a woman emerged, her hair curled up like she had just stepped out from some goddamned 1950s flick. At the appearance of the older woman the three boys withdrew to the hallway without a last glance.

She shook their mother's hand and exclaimed, "Mrs. Newberry, it must have slipped my mind that your lovely daughters were to be arriving today!"

"That's alright Miss Danvers, it was a pleasant walk," their mother withdrew her hand as if Miss Danvers' hand was sticky slime and her tone did everything to suggest that her walk here was anything but pleasant.

"Now pardon the wait, Dr. Crabblesnitch is a much occupied man, though for you he will hasten his business." Miss Danvers stole a disgusted glance Phil's and Gwen's way before leading them to the Principal's office.

"Jemima! It has been ages!" Dr. Crabblesnitch bellowed the moment they entered his office. He approached their mom and gave her an overly exaggerated kiss in the cheek.

Phil was actually surprised her mother seemed genuinely pleased to see this man.

"Yes it has." They held hands for a little while and Phil and Gwen could not help but exchange puzzled glances. "Crabblesnitch, I've got to catch a plane back to L.A., I hope you don't mind…" Their mother tentatively walked away, standing by the doorway. "I only came because I wanted to see _these two_ off," she huffed (as it was usual lately when she was referring to her twin daughters).

"Why! Bullworth will shape them to be outstanding members of this society! Don't fret." Dr. Crabblesnitch bellowed charismatically once again.

"I've only one request," their mother pursed her lips.

"Go on."

"Make sure you separate them." Her eyes softened for the slightest moment when she said, "Goodbye girls. _Behave_." They waved sadly and in an instant she was gone.

The moment her mother left, Phil exhaled soundly, as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Ever since their "fall from grace" their mother had been terribly stiff and awkward around them, and now that she was gone Phil felt she was free to express herself once again.

Dr. Crabblesnitch leant back on his gigantic, principal chair and stared down at a manila folder, undoubtedly telling him exactly why they had to leave their previous school. "Let's see… tsk tsk." He shook his head like he actually cared.

"Now girls, you might not know this, but your father and I were colleagues back when I was getting my doctorate, and I will feel thoroughly unfulfilled if I don't shape this unruly behavior out of you. It will be my personal mission. Gwendolyn Newberry, expelled for trespassing into a boy's bedroom," he lifted those bushy eyebrows of his. "And Philippa Newberry, expelled for getting caught in the possession of a controlled substance. All in the same night. Interesting.

"MISS DANVERS! Have the prefects take the Newberry girls' suitcases over to their dormitories!" Phil and Gwen nearly flinched when the principal called out for his secretary. In a moment's instant Miss Danvers was already in the office, smiling all too sweetly while she instructed two prefect boys to take their things.

A deathly silence settled over the office when the woman and prefects left. Gwen was busy fussing over her split ends while Phil glared daggers at the ground below her, her hate for the school only mounting. "In this school we have a strict policy over boys coming in to the girls' dormitories, as well as having _any_ sorts of drugs on school grounds. Now I know you two are well educated ladies with a prosperous upbringing and a bright future, so go out there and learn to be civilized! And one last thing, keep your noses clean, or_ we'll_ clean it for you!"

"_Ew_," Gwen was appalled.

"Let's go," Phil dragged her sister out.

Phil was disgusted when she noticed that the preppy boys were still standing by the hallway; she was not in the mood to start making friends in this godforsaken school just yet. Gwen, on the other hand, lit up like a sunflower under a morning sun.

"Let me introduce ourselves," the blond boy took Gwen's hand politely, and Phil had to admit, he did look like quite the gentleman. "My name is Derby Harrington, and these are Bif Taylor and Chad Morris," he pointed at the tall boy and at the black boy, respectively.

"Well hello Derby," Gwen breathed in that charming voice of hers, and Phil could already make a list of the boys Gwen would be crushing over in Bullworth Academy. "I'm Gwendolyn and this is my twin Philippa."

"Ah—"

"Call me Phil," Phil added in brusquely. She absolutely hated her name. She was sure her mom had been high on a joint when she picked out their names.

Just then the bell rang, and the boys left them with a couple lame, apologetic words. As if on queue Miss Danvers stuck her head out the office, handing them a sheet of paper each and saying, "I forgot, here are your schedules. Now go on, don't pretend that we permit tardiness here!"

They glared at the woman until they rounded a corner, which was when Phil was finally able to glance at her schedule. "Shop, Biology, and Gym for my morning classes, then Art, Math, and English for my afternoon classes. You?" Phil stole a peek at Gwen's schedule.

"Chemistry, Math, Art then Biology, English, and Geography. Nothing." Her twin meant that there wasn't a single class that they shared together. "Dang mom is pretty mad," her brown bangs swayed when she shook her head.

"You think?" Phil couldn't stop the sarcasm. "Anyways, we better scram or we'll be late," she looked over her shoulder at the prefects that were shoving a couple nerds around.

"Oh please. I got caught having sex with the headmaster's grandson; you think I care about being caught tardy? Anyways you don't know what class Derby might have for first period?" Gwen waved her off with that airy tone of hers and descended down the stairs.

Well if Gwen was intent on being late, then let her. Phil, on the other hand, was having greater problems. How in the world was she supposed to know where her class was? "What the hell is Shop…" Phil whispered absentmindedly as she turned a corner.

Her mind was so preoccupied with her schedule that she didn't notice the commotion in the hallway. Suddenly somebody had been pushed against her and she crashed into a boy, and in their momentum they crashed hard into the lockers. Phil gasped in complete disbelief, sandwiched between two guys.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" A couple midgets were chanting all around her and Phil only seethed as she tried to move, but realized she just couldn't.

The perpetrator didn't even bother extending his hand out to help her up when he finally moved. He had messy brown hair and a white blouse that stuck out of his pants at odd angles. She realized he had tumbled into her somehow while he was trying to bully a smaller boy. Among the confusion the smaller boy scurried away.

"Assholes," the other guy that had hit the locker finally exclaimed as he straightened himself out.

Phil gave him a glare; this wasn't_ her_ fault. She momentarily noted the scar that cut across his right eyebrow.

"Hey come back here!" The brute that crashed into her hollered out to the little boy that had dashed away, but someone else stopped him.

"Yo Gurney, aren't you going to apologize?" The short boy with a buzz cut she had seen fighting back in the school grounds earlier joined the scene out of nowhere. Suddenly they were at each other's necks, and Phil only watched with mounting disbelief how they fought it out like it was some kind of bar brawl. The entire time she was pressed against the locker next to that boy with the scar, who only laughed icily in sheer amusement as the two boys fought. Where the hell were the prefects anyways? So much for ruling with an iron fist.

They guy named Gurney eventually fell to the ground, clutching his stomach in pain after the buzz cut boy casually kicked him a couple times here are there… no biggie. Once done he turned to Phil, his breathing heavy and a little too close for comfort, and said, "Hey I haven't seen you before. The name's Jimmy."

Phil was aghast for an instant.

"He's asking for your name, dimwit," the guy that had been standing next to her all this time chuckled.

Her cheeks flushed. "And_ I_ will let you know if I need a translator, asshole. My name is Phil, and what the hell was that?"

Scar guy shrugged, "Bullworth."

Jimmy then leaned on the locker, in-between Phil and the other guy, which she was thankful for. "So… since I saved you from Tom Gurney, you wanna make out?" Then she wasn't so grateful after all.

Phil made to walk away, muttering with a mixture of amusement and annoyance, "You've got the wrong twin."

"What—"

"You seem to be new here, I wouldn't walk away just yet if I were you." The guy with the scar suddenly pointed out, making Phil stop halfway.

"How would you know?" Phil snapped a little harsher than she had intended.

"I can tell; you look fresh and startled. If you want to survive in Bullworth Academy you better start making some allies." He leaned forward, standing straight up, the stare he had on her was… on the edge of carnivorous. "For instance, do you know where your first period class is located?"

"I think I'll take my chances." Phil turned her nose up high and left them without sparing them a single glance. Making friends, or_ allies_, was not on her forecast today.

* * *

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	2. A Bullworth-worth Impression

_Act I: "Now Is the Start"_

**~~~ooooo~~~**

**Chapter II: A Bullworth-worth Impression**

Not taking advantage of the boys' help soon proved to be a costly mistake for Phil. She ended up wondering aimlessly through every school hallway, made up her mind to leave to the other school buildings, until, finally, a prefect found her by the Gym, tardy and disoriented. He nearly dragged her by the ear to the other side of the school (all the while Phil was spewing out obscenities) and had dumped her in a shabby garage sort of place where she would be having Shop.

Phil sucked at this, she quickly realized, and by the end of the class two of her fingers had been smashed and bruised by bike wheels and gears. Biology hadn't been any better. Dr. Slawter spent the entire period lecturing them about life and death and about the necessities of worms and maggots in the decomposition process. His description was so vivid that a four-eyed ginger boy named Algernon had to dash to the trashcan to relieve himself of his breakfast. Dr. Slawter dismissed class after this, and no matter how messed up it might have been, Phil was immensely grateful that the Algernon boy had a weak stomach and had caused the class to end with his puking.

On her way to her next class, Phil was rummaging in her purse, looking for some lip balm, when she noticed a battered cell phone she had never seen before in the depths of her bag. She brought the phone up and inspected it. How had it gotten into her bag? This was undoubtedly not hers; her mother had made sure to confiscate hers and Gwen's cellphones the moment they had been expelled from their previous school. Phil pondered, should she put up a note on the bulletin board looking for the owner, or keep it? The latter seemed like the most attractive option.

She thought for a while, maybe it had slipped into her purse earlier this morning during their hallway rumble. Perhaps it belonged to Jimmy, or to Tom Gurney, or even to scar-guy. No matter if it belonged to someone else, she was going to use it. She needed a phone if she was ever going to start dealing drugs in this stupid little school anyways.

The bell soon rang, but finding Gym class was much easier, since she had already been there earlier. Phil dashed across grounds to the Gym so that the prefects wouldn't pick on her for not wearing the school uniform, and soon enough she was part of the small amount of students that didn't skip Gym class.

It turned out that their gym teacher, Mr. Burton, was the most sexist man on this planet. The moment he saw her he gave her a small lecture about how he believed the world was a better place when men were out there playing sports while women were either in the sidelines cheering, or in the kitchen making sandwiches. Phil made a mental note to watch out for the guy.

He forced the girls to change into a cheerleader outfit while the boys changed into wrestling gear. On her way out of the changing room Phil noticed that the Jimmy boy was in this class with her. The girls then began lining up, one by one, by the wrestling mat and were made to cheer for the boys that wrestled.

"Hey Gwen," the auburn haired girl that stood next to her addressed her. She looked tall and easygoing, reminding Phil of her California girls.

Phil chuckled, brushing the back of her head with her pompoms. "I'm not Gwen, that's my twin sister." The first two boys began wrestling, and suddenly the gym exploded with sounds of students cheering and the two boys grunting loudly as they tossed each other around.

The tall girl studied her, suddenly making up her mind, "Well damn. I have your sister for Math then, haha. I'm Christy," they shook hands but quickly turned to cheering when Mr. Martin screamed at them, undoubtedly noticing that their miniskirts had ceased jumping.

"I'm Philippa, but you can call me Phil." The Jimmy boy was up now, and Phil's eyes were on him. He was short and quite built for his age. He looked more like a delinquent from southern L.A. than like someone that should be in a New England boarding school. Suddenly, Phil regretted turning down his advances.

"Do you think if I start a rumor that I have an identical twin people might start believing?" Phil almost tripped at this. Was this girl serious?

"I guess… you and your make-believe twin could never be in the same place at the same time though." Phil and Gwen often played to be the same person, which was entirely opposite to what this Christy girl wanted to do.

Her eyes were still on that boy. He was sort of a beast when it came to fighting, and Phil realized that if she ever needed a bodyguard she would know who to ask. "Say Christy… tell me all about this Jimmy guy."

"Ew, don't tell me you've got your eyes on him!" Oh she did have her eyes on him, but not in that way.

"Ew nooo!" Phil giggled stupidly; if that's what it took to have this Christy girl in the palm of her hand, then so be it. "Tell me though!"

Despite it all, Christy seemed to be the sort to enjoy sharing gossip. "Well, he's a bit of an oddball. He's new too, came here just two weeks ago or something." A new student, huh? So he's just as _fresh_ as she was. "He's constantly getting into fights though. Oh and he hangs out with the sociopath and Petey."

"_Who_?"

Mr. Martin began walking behind them, and Phil had the feeling he was undressing them with his eyes.

"Pete Kowalski."

"The sociopath?"

Jimmy had pinned down yet another boy, and his third victim was promptly forced to enter the wrestling mat by Mr. Martin.

"No silly!" Christy jumped up like a fairy as she gave one loud cheer, then turned darkly down to Phil, who was several inches shorter. "The sociopath is Gary Smith, and Petey is just their toy dog."

"Gary Smith?" Phil repeated the words as if they were taboo. The whole notion intrigued her, a sociopath huh…

"Yeah he has brown hair and a stupid scar on his eyebrow." So_ that_ boy was Gary Smith… "I heard a rumor his convict father gave him that scar while he was drunk. Or was he raping him? I've forgotten how the rumor goes." Phil watched her incredulously. "Let's just tell everyone he got the scar defending himself from his pedophile father that was trying to rape him and that that is the reason why he's such a sociopath, ok? It sounds more dramatic—"

The loud bell saved Phil from having to pretend that she thought this girl was sane. What kind of hellhole school had she gotten herself into? They were ushered back into the changing rooms, but Phil made a detour into the boys' locker room, disregarding the odd stares he received from some of the boys.

She spotted Jimmy opening his locker, and was amused to see that she slightly startled him when she approached him. "Wanna be friends?" Phil cut straight to the point; if everyone in this school was bonkers, why should she try to be otherwise?

"Uh—no. But we can make out," Jimmy leaned on his locker door, his lips were smirking but the look in his eyes made the hairs on her back prickle.

"Is that all you ever have to say? And I'm Phil by the way."

"Well yeah, besides messing around with girls what else is there to do in this godforsaken little town?"

Phil only wriggled her nose at his comment; boy would Gwen have a blast here. "Look, I'm new here, I don't know anything or anyone." _All I've got is a promiscuous sister and a stranger's cell phone_, she wanted to say, but stopped herself. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. "What's the market for drugs in this little school?"

"Huh?" Sometimes, Phil had to admit, Jimmy looked like a troll.

"Who buys drugs? Who _does_ drugs? Who sells the drugs?"

Suddenly Jimmy's interest in her evaporated away. He opened his locker door and proceeded to undress himself, disregarding her presence. This vexed her. "I'm new too, I don't know anything, since I've no interest in that," he told her brusquely.

Phil glared at him as he put his regular Bullworth vest on. Her glare must have amused him, for he pulled out an ink pen from his locker and grasped her wrist not so gently. Phil yelped as she was yanked forward, but all Jimmy did was write a phone number down on her forearm. "Call this number and arrange to meet with Gary Smith. He knows everything about this school, and he'll be able to help you."

"This is Gary Smith's number?" Phil massaged the spot where Jimmy had grasped her wrist.

"No shit, who else's?" He slammed his locker door closed, now that he was done changing. "You a druggy or something?" Jimmy sized her up with those brown eyes of his, almost to analyze how much of a threat she could be.

"Drugs are for fools, _and_ for my clients. I deal. My dearest daddy stopped giving me and my sister money a loooong time ago, and we must make do with what we have. My sister has charms, I have brains." Phil, quite satisfied that she could perhaps introduce a market for drugs to Bullworth Academy, swiftly turned her back to Jimmy and left the boys' locker room. If Crabblesnitch thought he was about to "put her in line" then he had another thing coming to him. She realized that she had spent all her changing time talking to Jimmy, but decided that if she walked around in cheerleader clothes then perhaps she wouldn't be pestered by the annoying prefects.

For lunch she met with Gwendolyn outside in one of the gardens. She had been forced to change to her uniform, it seemed, but had quickly made adjustments to it, exposing her cleavage as much as possible. If Phil hadn't known her sister like the back of her hand she would have been annoyed by this. They exchanged stories, and Phil found out that Gwen had Jimmy for her Chemistry class, and that he had asked her to make out as well. Thankfully her sister had higher standards, and promptly turned him down.

Art came all too quickly, and again, a prefect had to drag her ass to class after she had gotten herself lost. She was forced to share a table with a couple greasers and a girl that also wore a cheerleading outfit, though she never recalled seeing her in Gym. When the girl's staring began to unnerve her, Phil brusquely snapped, "Can I help you?"

The girl had her brown hair up in a ponytail. She seemed to have been surprised at Phil's tone, like no one ever addressed her like that or something. "What makes you think you can freely walk around in those clothes?"

"Well excuse me, are you a prefect? Is it your job to make sure that I wear my "proper" uniform?" Phil leaned forward, amused that this little thing of a girl seemed ready to pick a fight. It was about damn time she got into a confrontation.

"You're not a cheerleader," she laughed haughtily. "You're just a wannabe. I'm sorry darling but tryouts are over so do everyone a favor and go change."

"Oh you're telling me to strip?" What a silly notion. Phil smirked and made to take her top off, taking amusement at the girl's shocked reaction.

"Stop that you slut!"

Phil's smirk turned to a glare.

"Oh how silly of me, of course! It runs in your blood! It's your first day and your slut sister was already all over Derby Harrington's pants." The wooded floor screeched behind her as Phil pushed her chair back, standing up. Only she was allowed to call her sister that, no one else. The girl also stood up defiantly.

Of course this girl was just talking shit. Gwendolyn might be a slut, but she didn't work_ that_ fast. "Is that what your mother teaches you? To strip in public and fuck the first rich guy you see?"

The greasers in the table were snickering by now, often edging them on with things like, "Oh hell naw." Or "Ohh you gonna take that?"

"Bitch if you know what's good for you—"

"I heard you were in Jimmy Hopkins's pants not too long ago, back at the locker rooms—" She didn't have time to finish, because at that moment Phil's hand came down on her face, throwing her onto the table. It wasn't like a meager slap, but more like a full-fledge smack, where the entirety of her palm came in contact with the girl's cheek, temple, hair.

The stupid girl screeched and Ms. Philips was onto them in an instant. She dragged Phil away from the cheerleader (who was now wailing on the ground, clutching her face) and handed her to a prefect.

**~~~ooooo~~~**

"Assaulting a girl on your first day?" Dr. Crabblesnitch half gasped, half chuckled.

Phil only sunk deeper into the chair in front of the principal, her eyes on anywhere but him.

"You don't have a record of violence on file, why start now?"

_Because everyone in this school is completely insane_, she wanted to say, but instead continued to ignore him.

"I know it's hard to get adjusted to our Ivy-League ways, Philippa," _Don't call me that_, she seethed inside. "So I will let you off with a warning. However you must apologize to Miss Wiles. Do you hear me? I want Miss Wiles to come to me and tell me you've apologized. Otherwise… tsk tsk… your mother would have to hear about this."

Phil immediately jumped to her feet; no way she was going to apologize to that stupid cheerleader! "You can't be serious!"

Dr. Crabblesnitch gave her a glare. "What else would you have me do?"

Phil's mind raced, and she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind, "Take me out of Art! And I promise I will behave and you'll never have to hear about me again!"

He chuckled, his eyes narrowing, "Fine. Go change to Photography, but you'll still have to apologize!"

_So much for that_. Well at least her exposure to the bitch "Miss Wiles" would be limited. "Whatever," Phil decided begging him would win her absolutely nothing, so she promptly excused herself from his office.

By the time she left Dr. Crabblesnitch's office the period was over. And suddenly, because of her intrepidity, Phil realized her feat had been popularized. Students everywhere began noticing her. The nerds often shared words of encouragement, while a couple jocks dimly struggled to express their empty threats. Either way, she ignored it all. For once she found her Math classroom in time, and took one of the empty seats in the back of the class.

The tardy bell rang and the seat next to her was occupied by the scar guy, the _sociopath_. He barely noticed her, delivering a sneer her way. So according to Jimmy, this guy was supposed to be her hook-up, yet sitting here in their Math class, he didn't seem as approachable as he had been earlier this morning.

She must have been staring, for he swiftly turned to her and scowled a, "What do you want?"

"I'm Phil," she tried to smile, but the look on his face only encouraged frowns.

"Yeah yeah, Philippa Newberry, you're famous you know, beating up Queen Bee."

"I wouldn't call that beating up anyone…" If she had been a different girl she would have feared that the jocks would soon begin to hate her. But alas, Phil gave a rat's ass about this school and its insignificant cliques. "Look, Gary, right?" He nodded; his attention was on his notes though. "Jimmy said you could help me."

At the mention of Jimmy's name, Gary's demeanor completely changed. Phil might not be the most charismatic person out there, but she knew a thing or two about social queues, and she noticed the tension between them suddenly peaking. "Well _Jimmy_ is mistaken. I only help myself."

Suddenly Phil was annoyed. She really wanted some pocket cash, but how could she possibly sell anything if she didn't have some kind of inside connection? Maybe flattery could do the trick? "He told me you knew everything about this school." She leaned forward and whispered, "There's money involved."

Gary looked like he was about to rudely snap at her, though he was interrupted by Mr. Hattrick, the Math teacher, who quickly put an end to their conversation.

The remainder of the day dragged out in all its awkward glory. The gates to town had been shut off for some unknown reason, so students were forced to remain in school grounds all afternoon and evening. Phil soon found out that behavior in this school was Darwinism at its finest; the strong devoured the weak and so forth. And, indeed, the jocks took a particular dislike of her, and she almost feared for her well-being and sanity, but then again everyone here was fucked up and insane, so whatever happened to her was only bound to make her fit right in.

To satisfy their mom's request, they quite literally separated her and her sister, and sent Gwen to room with a big girl on the first floor of the Girls' Dorm, while Phil roomed upstairs with a black, four-eyed twerp that called herself Gloria Jackson. That night Phil was absolutely bored in her room, and it didn't help that Gloria was much too smart for her own good, and therefore a bore to make conversation with.

Phil brought the battered cell phone she found earlier out of her purse and began searching through the contacts and text messages to try to figure out whom it belonged to. She had to admit she was surprised no one had called to ask for it back. Maybe the owner wasn't yet aware that they had lost it? She scrolled through the contacts: Jimmy Hopkins, Christy Martin, and Derby Harrington were the only names she recognized, and soon she grew bored and simply stuffed the phone in her pocket.

She left her room and descended down the stairs, finally entering Gwen's room without even knocking. She stopped by the doorway, shocked, when she saw her sister fuzzing with the window panes. "What in the world are you doing?"

Gwen jumped in surprise, nearly tripping and hitting her shoulder with the wall. "Jesus Christ you almost gave me a heart attack."

Phil sat on her bed, noticing her fat roommate wasn't home.

"I'm gonna go explore town. This school sucks, maybe there's shit to do out there?" Gwen gave the window frame a couple mighty pushes and in an instant it had opened. The chilly evening air immediately flowed in, enveloping the room. As if thinking it twice, Gwen stopped and turned to her with sarcasm, "Is our plan to try to get us kicked out? Mom would be quite pissed if she had to fly her ass here just to send us to another godforsaken boarding school."

"I don't know, is it?" Phil crossed her arms, wondering where the comment was coming from.

"Well I should be asking you, since you already got yourself sent to the principal's office! You hit that cheerleader chick!" Gwen swung her legs over the window and sat on the windowsill while she waited for her sister's reply.

Phil rolled her eyes and waved at her indifferently. "Just go and don't get yourself caught."

"Ok! Just stay here and pretend to be me." And with that Gwen jumped out and scurried away into the darkness.

_Stay here and pretend to be me_. How many times have they said that to each other? A little too much, if you asked Phil. She looked around the room, and much like her side of her room, Gwen barely had anything. This boarding school was their punishment, so they hadn't been allowed to bring their video games, computers, fancy clothes and pretty shoes, their posters or their music. Nada. Phil sighed; she needed to start making money and fast.

A thought suddenly occurred to her, so she grabbed Gwen's pillows, fluffed them and stuffed them under the covers to make them appear like Gwen was sleeping. She turned off the bedroom lights and quickly walked over to the opened window. Phil sat on the window frame, swung her legs to the other side, and without thinking twice (or looking at where she would be landing) jumped out into the cool night.

"Oomph!"

Phil didn't land on grass though (Gwen had made it seem so glamorous!), instead she jumped forward and crashed _hard_ onto someone, and the two fell down on the hard ground from her momentum. Her body landed perfectly on top of the person's, one hand over her head protectively while the other was squeezed painfully between their bodies. Disoriented and shocked, Phil wriggled as she tried to move away, but somehow their legs had locked in an awkward position.

She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw made her insides writhe in panic: a scar cutting perfectly across a furrowed, brown eyebrow.

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	3. Gary Smith's Secret Affair

_Act I: "Now Is the Start"_

**~~~ooooo~~~**

**Chapter III: Gary Smith's Secret Affair**

They were centimeters away from each other, to the point where Phil could feel his ragged breaths on her skin. Their gazes were locked for a split second as they tried to register exactly what had happened. "Gary—" Phil was the first to speak, a little flustered, and suddenly the boy pushed her off him, one hand cupping her breast by accident. Phil rolled to the side and quickly got to her feet, her cheeks attainting the slightest scarlet hue.

"Klutz," Gary spat as he dusted his clothes off.

"For the love of God, what's your problem?"

"ADD, my family, this school, western civilization, _you_." He made to walk away but Phil stuck to him like gum stuck to a shoe sole. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I should be asking you the same thing!" Phil exclaimed while she fixed her hair, running a hand through her square bangs. "Were you trying to sneak in to the girl's dorm?"

"Were _you_ trying to sneak out of the girl's dorm?"

"So what?" Her eyes caught glimpse of something orange that had fallen on the ground. She looked down and saw the orange object was a small prescription bottle Gary must have dropped during their crash. Gary's brown eyes followed her stare and in an instant he had picked the bottle up and had stuffed it in his pockets. "What's that?" Phil quickly asked, her spirit lightening at the first sight of drugs in the school.

"None of your business—" Gary made to turn around, but Phil was onto him in an instant, trying to sneak her hands into his pockets to steal the bottle. "Lay off!" He promptly slapped her hand away not so gently and gave her a slight shove.

"What is it? Do you use it?" Phil walked alongside him behind the girl's dorm.

"No I don't use it. In fact, I'm about to throw it out. Now stop being such a nosey bitch and run along! Weren't you planning on running away or something?"

Phil wasn't watching where they were going, she simply followed him,_ hoping_ that her luck would turn. "Don't throw it away! Give it to me! I can make money out of it! Let me guess, it's Adderall, right?"

Gary suddenly stopped and faced her completely, giving Phil a disgusted glare. "How would you know?"

Her ego seemed to have inflated at his question. Her head lolled in a smug manner before she told him, "I'm a dealer, you think I don't know my drugs? You just said you had ADD. Put two and two together and you get four."

Gary took two steps closer to her and suddenly he had rounded on her, the glare he had on her darkening. It was then that Phil realized what an idiot she had been, edging this boy on, the _sociopath_, and now they were standing by the hedges near the girl's dorm in the dark. He could strangle her for all she knew, and no one would ever find out.

"Look, _Philippa_," he spoke her name like it was filth, "I don't have time for spoiled princesses that think that just because they came from some rich Beverly Hills school they can do whatever the fuck they please here." _How did he know_? "That's right, I know exactly what kind of person you are," he had cornered her by the hedge, and the only escape route seemed to have been blocked by his arm… "_I'm _in the process of taking over this school, and_ I_ will kindly let you know if I ever need the poison of your drugs to rot it from the inside out. Meanwhile, lay low and stay out of my business._ I_ will let you know when you're of use to me, otherwise, stop trying to get me to help you. Like I said before I only help myself—"

He would have continued, but Phil grew angry and gave him one mighty shove, making him step away. Gary took a deep breath, his darkened eyes on the cloudy sky as he tried to calm down.

They glared at each other for the longest minute, until finally Phil was the one to break the tense silence. "Fine, go fuck yourself then." Her eyes never left him when he walked away, though she stayed by the hedge nervously, her hand holding a certain bottle she had been able to take out of his pocket while he ranted to her face. The idiot was so caught up thinking he had overpowered her that he never noticed her taking his prescription bottle.

Now all she needed to do was go to town and find a buyer. Phil counted the minutes until she was sure Gary wouldn't come back, ready to accuse her of theft. She opened the bottle, it was half empty; it had enough perhaps to make her $30 bucks. Throw in a little overprice and she could actually get enough capital to start buying some harder drugs to start her little _business_. Even if he hadn't wanted to, Gary Smith inadvertently ended up being her hook-up.

**~~~ooooo~~~**

Unfortunately for her, Phil wasn't as sneaky as she thought she was (or maybe it was just her wretched luck?). Either way, a prefect caught her sneaking into town past curfew the night before, and her excursion to town to sell her newly-acquired Adderall ended quite prematurely. She silently let the prefect drag her back to her dorm, else she anger him and he performed a body search, which would end up in Phil getting the pills confiscated.

Phil stood next to Christy during Gym and pretended to cheer for the boys that were now playing dodge ball, though her mind was on the drugs she stole from Gary. Surely someone here in school would want to purchase it from her? Maybe a dimwitted jock seeking to score a better grade in an exam would buy it? Her thoughts were interrupted when her brown eyes came upon a familiar boy that had stepped into the gym.

"Ugh, what's the _sociopath_ doing here?" Phil heard Christy grumble a little too loudly beside her, and wondered where her deep dislike for the boy was coming from.

Gary avoided everyone's stares and simply handed Mr. Burton a slip from the principal. His dark eyes met with Phil's when he turned to leave and Phil fumed at the scowl he gave her. Inwardly, she laughed to herself though; so far it looked like the prick hadn't yet noticed that he was missing a certain medication—

"I can't stand the sight of him, honestly! I hope he does something terrible and gets caught so he gets expelled!" Christy stomped her foot on the floor like quite the kindergartener.

Phil eyed her, slightly annoyed, but the red-head never noticed, and continued to complain about Gary Smith. "Every time I see him I'm reminded why this school sucks so much—it's filled with the scum of society! Look at him walk around like he owns the school. Did you tell everyone that the reason he's mental is because his dad raped him?"

Her lips curled up the slightest, trying to hide her amusement. "I thought the story we were sticking to was that his dad _tried to_, but couldn't?" Of course Phil wasn't about to go around spreading lies about anybody, not just yet anyways (specially not about Gary Smith); she was simply humoring Christy.

"Who cares! The worst the story is the more these morons will believe it!" Christy crossed her arms, her eyes were still on the door were Gary retreated.

Ok so maybe Christy had some kind of beef with Gary? "What's wrong witchu?" Phil eventually asked, but Christy didn't look like she was about to answer, though it didn't matter anyways, for Mr. Martin soon realized they were the only "cheerleaders" that weren't cheering for the boys and promptly yelled at them and threatened to send them to the principal. The last person Phil wanted to see right now was Dr. Crabblesnitch, so she dropped the matter and cheered as obnoxiously as possible for the remainder of the period.

The bell resonated within the spacious gym and almost immediately the teens scattered, the boys to their changing room and the girls to theirs. Phil saw Jimmy retreating and quickly caught up to him, almost blocking his way to the boys' lockers. "So Jimmy…"

Jimmy almost rolled his eyes when he saw her, "Did you call the number?" Look at him cutting straight to the point. Well at least he didn't immediately ask her to make out, which Phil was grateful for.

The girl exhaled loudly in defeat and crossed her arms, "I didn't have to. Turns out I have Math with Gary. But he's such a prick he doesn't want to help me."

"That's Gary for you, a prick." Jimmy walked past her and into the changing rooms, hoping she wouldn't follow. He had no such luck.

"I thought you two were best friends forever or something," she leaned comfortably by his locker, looking down at him, since he was several inches shorter than her.

"Me and Gary? Best friends? Good joke. It's just that I'm one of the few people that can actually stand him. Anyways if he won't help you then there's nothing neither of us can do." Jimmy stripped to his boxers, his lips smirking the slightest when he caught Phil staring at his muscled chest.

Phil wasn't fazed; she might not be the sluttier of the two twins, but she had seen her share of naked dudes. She leaned closer (wriggling her nose at his stench of sweat) and whispered, "Look I got some Adderall, maybe you wanna buy?"

"Whoa—Philippa, don't pretend that I'm gonna be one of your _clients_." The boy backed away the slightest as he put his uniform blouse back on.

"Tsk, _don't_ call me Philippa." Phil was about to suggest that he take a shower, but decided not to waste her breath.

He must have been affected by her pout, for he eventually told her, "Ok, _Phil_, I can do whatever your little spoiled heart desires, for the right price. Anybody in this school wants something done, they come to me, but they also pay me."

"I'm not gonna pay you to help me sale! I ain't got no money yet!" She made her way to the door, annoyed and disappointed.

"We can make out!" His voice reverberated within the empty locker room.

"Drop it, loser."

**~~~ooooo~~~**

A mass of beige with questionable chunks of brown (was that meat?) and an assortment of spoiled vegetables was her sad excuse of a lunch. If Phil hadn't been starving she would have scoffed at the food, but you can only go so long without eating before caving in and finally accepting to eat the disgusting meals of Bullworth Academy. Her sister had given her a banana and an orange she had gotten from the preps, but alas Phil wasn't about to survive the day on just an orange and a banana, leave that to anorexic Mandy. Phil pinched her nose and closed her eyes every time she took a spoonful of the food, this made it easier to ignore the taste, now the texture was a whole different story.

The cafeteria seemed civil enough; she had been expecting food fights and the occasional nerd throwing up all over the place, but today neither happened. She sat with Gwen and Derby and a couple other preps in one of the fancier tables, and was surprised when a prep named Gord brought in a girl that looked like she didn't quite belong to the prep clique. "Hi! I missed you guys," the girl gave each of them a smile that bordered on fake and held her hand out delicately to Gord, who clamped her hand in a weird, affectionate manner.

"Gwen, Phil, this is Lola," Gord told them after they were done with their PDA.

"Oooh that your girlfriend Gord?" Gwen giggled, snuggling closer to Derby, who already seemed quite captivated by her.

The two looked at each other awkwardly until Lola quickly answered, "We're seeing each other…" Oh Phil knew exactly what that meant, after all she had seen her sister walk around with plenty whipped boys in her lifetime.

The conversations shifted to the prep's country club and their parents' stocks and Phil quickly lost interest. She amused herself by observing the cafeteria, her eyes stopping at the sight of Jimmy and Gary and another boy she hadn't yet met eating by themselves in a spacious table. No one seemed to want to approach them, it seemed. Was Gary really all that bad? As if bothered by her staring, Gary turned and their eyes met. He glared, and Phil was so amused she could only nod her head forward and smirk.

He scowled and went back to playing with his food. Phil's eyes continued to roam the cafeteria, stopping when she caught sight of Christy. Her table was the most crowded in the cafeteria, but they didn't seem to be bullies or jocks or nerds. Christy had quite the pout on her lips, and her eyes were intently glaring at something. Phil followed her eyes and was surprised to see that Christy had been glaring at Gary all along. She still seemed to be appalled by his presence!

A sudden thought struck her. Phil withdrew the stranger's cell phone from her pockets and began reading over the text messages. Her smirk only widened when she realized a million of them were from Christy:

"_If ur gonna come late then dont come at all!1!_"

or,

"_I NEED u :)_"

and,

"_U know i dont want to sound like a btch or sumthin but i dont like the way ur all best buddies with Mandy now._"

and Phil couldn't help but laugh loudly at:

"_u look so CUTE in that vest. come with it so I can take it off ;)_"

Her sister gave her an odd, questioning look, but Phil quickly asked, "Gwen what happens if you call your own number?"

Gwen had been chewing on a banana, and swallowed before shrugging and telling her, "It'll go to your voicemail. Why?" Gwen's eyes almost doubled in size when she saw the battered cell phone in Phil's hands "How do you have a phone!"

Phil shrugged, "I found it." She hastily pushed back the long sleeves of her uniform blouse, her heartbeats suddenly quickening, and grinned when she realized the number Jimmy wrote on her forearm were still somewhat visible, faint but readable. Phil punched the numbers onto the phone with her thumbs and dialed. The phone didn't even ring once, it went straight to voicemail! She had Gary's cell phone all along! Phil wanted to laugh out at the irony of it all, now Gary was _sure_ to think she was a kleptomaniac or something.

What was juicier, though, was the fact that she now knew there was something going on between Gary and Christy. She clicked her way to the outbox and realized that whatever was going on between them was certainly one-sided, since Gary never replied any of her messages. _So Gary Smith, we'll see if you won't help me now_, Phil grinned evilly, her eyes on his back. Gary was probably trying to sneak in to the girl's dorm to see Christy when she crashed into him, she'd bet her money on it!

Her thoughts were interrupted when the Derby kid addressed her. "Say Phil, what are you doing tonight?"

"The same thing I do every night Derby, plan my escape from this nuthouse," and the preps laughed stupidly at her joke.

"Well we're gonna be playing a little game at Harrington House this evening…"

Gwen leaned forward, squeezing Phil's hand in hers, and Phil immediately knew that look in Gwen's eyes, "We already got you a partner for the game Phil, Bif Taylor here will be your partner."

Phil could almost swear that was a blush on Bif's pompous cheeks. "Gwen, won't you rather I stay in your room and pretend to be you?" Phil rolled her eyes, already apprehensive of this _game_ her sister had signed her up for.

Gwen's cheeks swelled in that annoying pout of hers and Phil just knew Gwen was not about to budge. "Come on Phil, it'll be good for you, it's about time you make some friends," then she leaned closer to her twin and whispered quietly so that only Phil could hear, "_and about time you make some boyfriends_."

Whatever, Phil didn't want a boyfriend. She just wanted money, and to have money she needed to start dealing again, and to deal, well, she would just have to blackmail Gary Smith.

* * *

**Appendix:**

**Adderall**: a medication containing amphetamine that is used to treat ADHD and ADD.

* * *

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	4. Bargaining with the Devil

_Act I: "Now Is the Start"_

**~~~ooooo~~~**

**Chapter IV: Bargaining with the Devil**

Phil and Gwen walked together to Harrington House that evening. It was still two hours until curfew, so the prefects never once bothered them while they walked across school grounds. All the while Gwen chatted happily of all the boys in the prep clique that seemed just _so_ interested in her, but of course she could only settle with the best, so she decided to crush on their leader, Derby Harrington. Phil often felt compelled to tell her just how inbred the whole lot seemed, to burst her bubble, but decided that Gwen was her only confidante and friend in this sad excuse of a town, so it wouldn't be a good idea to push her away with her sass.

"Did you know that Harrington House is named after Derby's family? They must have quite the money—" Gwen's words were ignored as an unpleasant autumn wind blew right through their bones. _Curse New England and its chilly falls_, Phil gritted her teeth. Back in southern California she could still be wearing tank tops by this time of the year.

They passed the parking lot where an abandoned school bus sat, rusty and crooked, momentarily catching Phil's attention. There was a wide hole by the side of the bus, and Phil could only imagine the shady dealings that occurred within that bus. Maybe after escaping Gwen's questionable game Phil could go and explore it…

Gwen must have been preoccupied with Phil's silence, for after a while she whispered, "Phil don't tell me you're gonna start dealing weed here."

Phil snorted. It looked like _someone_ was already starting to get_ too_ comfortable with Bullworth Academy; she was just saying that so that they wouldn't get kicked out again. Phil then had to stop herself; it hadn't been her fault that they had been expelled from their old school, it had been Gwen's. "Why shouldn't I? Mom sent me here with ten bucks to my name. How am I supposed to survive?"

"Hook up with one of the rich kids." That was always her suggestion.

"I thought that was your forte."

"Well why else do you think I do it?" _Attention, maybe_? Phil hadn't been surprised it was Derby Harrington the one Gwen picked first. Though her twin's tactics were a lot safer; at least dating a couple guys didn't have the risk of winning her a one-way ticket to juvie.

They walked up the stairs that led to Harrington House and the subject was promptly dropped as Gwen ran up to Derby, who welcomed her with open arms by the wide double dorms that led to the fancy dormitories. Phil simply rolled her eyes in disgust. "If it isn't my favorite twins," Derby opened the doors for them, his shrewd gaze sizing Phil up the same way he had looked at his sister merely moments ago.

The three teens walked past a magnificently illuminated parlor and into the main hall of Harrington House. Portraits of ancient businessmen lined every wall, and a spectacular chandelier that hung high on the ceiling sat a charming glow upon the spacious hall. Derby walked ahead of them with his nose held up high in pride, expecting the twins to be blown away. As usual, Gwen was busy pretending to be mesmerized by anything Derby said, while Phil lagged behind them, her eyes scanning every nook and cranny so that she would be prepared for when it was her turn to disappear…

A fireplace was placed right by the stairs, which they walked up to reach the main social area. All of the residents in the dorm were gathered here. They sat on the lounge chairs and on the many tables, some played card games while others stood around a mini bar, which had a varied assortment of pricy drinks.

Phil visited the mini bar first, her eyes doubling at the sheer amount of alcohol, expensive cheeses, and caviar that these kids had. She had been too busy inspecting the bottle of _El Patron_ when someone walked up to her. Bif Taylor stood by her with an arrogant air about him, "Ah, a tequila fan, are you? Want me to make you something?"

Phil would have declined, but knew she probably needed the buzz for whatever game they were about to play. "Let's play shots."

Bif dimly looked around for an instant, "Right. Now where's that salt." He wanted to do the whole business with the salt and the lime, and when he walked away to look for salt Phil simply grabbed the bottle and chugged a sip of pure tequila.

She almost spluttered the damn drink out when she saw Gord and Lola entering the social room from the corner of her eye. Gord smugly walked in carrying a _huge_ stash of weed in a Ziploc bag. Lola noticed Phil holding the tequila bottle and quickly approached her, Gord on her trail.

"Philippa!" Lola's hips swayed sensually as she walked to the mini bar

"_Phil_." Do they just call her by her entire name just to piss her off?

"Right. What do you have here?" The girl was quick in serving herself some in a shot glass. "This is for us, babe," Lola winked at Gord before taking the shot.

Gord's eyes had been on Lola's breasts the entire time (and he didn't even care to pretend to look at her eyes). Phil had to stop herself from visibly scowling; what sort of people had she surrounded herself with? Instead, she faked an impressed smirk, eyeing his bag of weed. "Nice, Gord."

"Eh, it's ok." He tossed the bag onto the mini bar and busied himself with preparing a glass of scotch. "I get it from the greasers at New Coventry, but their overpriced shit sucks. I only buy it cause I can." He shrugged.

Phil would have asked more about these greasers in New Coventry, but Derby interrupted her by coughing loudly from the middle of the room to gather everyone's attention. His arm was wrapped possessively around Gwen's small waist while his other hand held a glass of scotch. "Listen up everyone! Now that you've all had food and drinks I hope you're ready for what we gathered here today for. Tonight we're welcoming the Newberry girls," he paused briefly to give Gwen a greedy kiss on the lips, "So it's time we play a little game to welcome them."

"Make out already!" Chad Morris bellowed from a pool table.

"Yeah you know you want to!" another prep called out.

"How come Bif gets the other twin—" some idiot blurted out loudly from the crowd, but Phil wasn't quick enough to pin-point him.

"Oooh are we playing the make-out game?" Lola giggled beside her. She was still holding on to that _El Patron_ bottle.

"The what?" Why did she allow herself to be conned into these things by her sister anyways? Wasn't it well established that messing around with strangers wasn't one of Phil's interests?

"Right. Well, I'll be playing with the sexiest of the two," Derby's arm gave Gwen's waist a squeeze. _Jeez, thanks_, Phil could only roll her eyes. "Lola and Gord, of course, Pinky and Tad," the girl named Pinky sat in the corner on a lounge chair, she chugged her drink down and glared vehemently at Derby, but never once objected. "And Phil and Bif."

The preps cheered and the couples began making their way to the center of the room, around Derby and Gwen. Phil felt someone take her hand in theirs, and was almost tempted to punch the boy away, but instead looked up to meet Bif's dim gaze, chanting inwardly to herself over and over, _for the sake of Gwen, for the sake of Gwen, for the sake of Gwen._

"What are the rules?" Phil blurted before swallowing a shot of tequila to sooth her temper.

"Simple! Make out with your partner for as long as you can—or for as long as you dare. The winner is the one that lasts longest."

_Simple, idiotic, and degrading_. Still, she couldn't leave her twin alone in this den of drunken snobs.

"But there's a _catch_", Derby began circling Phil, his eyes glinting greedily. "The girl that loses has to start her challenge from scratch with another guy." Was he serious? Phil looked around and shuddered, noticing the hungry look in all of the guys' eyes. Of course they would be down to watching four girls make out, if for the slim chance that they might get a taste themselves.

Phil exchanged an exasperated look with Gwen, Derby never noticing, but Gwen was in too deep already, she wasn't about to back out. The fact that Derby had made her his partner was enough confirmation that she had him on the tip of her finger; she was going to sit this through to the end.

"Grab your girls! Ready?" One of the preps yelled.

Bif grasped her shoulders a little too painfully, making Phil face him completely. Well at least she knew his name…

"Start!"

And in an instant his lips came down onto hers. Bif pulled her up against his body and locked his hands behind her neck. They kissed clumsily and awkwardly, and Phil realized that if she closed her eyes at least she wouldn't have to be looking at his pompous face. Thirty seconds and they slightly parted for air, and Bif dived in again, his tongue threatening to enter her mouth. Phil felt one of his hands snaking his way down her back, and her senses were overwhelmed with the loud hollers of the preps. She felt her stomach turning in disgust, her dinner threatening to make its way up her esophagus… _If you pull away you'll have to start over, if you pull away you'll have to start over, for the sake of Gwen, for the sake of Gwen, for the sake of Gwen_—

Her thoughts were interrupted when someone yelled out, "And Pinky breaks away!" More hollers, then, "And Parker takes Tad's place!"

Phil felt disgusted. Bif's hand started trailing down to her bottoms and something snapped within her. She gave Bif one mighty shove, breaking away from his kiss and from his grasp.

"And Phil gives in—" someone had begun saying, but Phil would have none of that. She spared Gwen one last glance before dashing through the door and down the stairs, anger boiling deep inside her. What kind of fucked up, sexist game had she gotten herself into? Someone was shouting her name behind her, though she ignored them. Phil left Harrington House in a blur.

The cool air felt like heavenly relief against her flushed cheeks. Phil finally slowed down by the fountains and noticed the stillness of the night. It was definitely past curfew now, but Phil was so vexed she was sure she would punch whoever decided to annoy her, prefect or otherwise. She thought of Gwen, but decided she wasn't giving her sister enough credit. Surely Gwen would win the game, and she would be crowned queen of the preps or something stupid like that.

Her feet slowly took her back around the school, though her ears perked at the voices coming from the entrance to the school basement. Phil stilled and listened intently, grimacing once she recognized the voice.

"What's the matter Femme-Boy? Afraid of the dark? Don't tell me you'll break down crying because you don't have your _mommy _here to cuddle you back to the dorm." Phil pressed herself against the nearest wall to continue eavesdropping, out of sight.

"Tsk—no it's not that—leave me alone Gary!"

"Why? Don't you want me to hold your hand while you walk back? The BOOGIEMAN could get you!"

"Gary!"

"We wouldn't want you soiling your pants, now would we?" Gary's malicious laughter resonated within the empty grounds and Phil couldn't listen idly any longer. Her gears had been grinded quite profoundly today, and she wasn't about to stand quietly while Gary bullied someone.

"Does it make you feel better about your sorry self? To put others down?" Phil's cold voice pierced through the night, and Gary and the other boy stood paralyzed like deer in headlights the moment she stepped out from hiding.

"Oh it's _you_." Gary recovered, stepping away from the boy and nearing her, his dark eyes glinting under the moonlight.

"You ok?" Phil asked the other boy, but he backed away a couple steps and suddenly dashed out of sight, leaving Gary and Phil in a silent standoff.

In two quick steps Gary had rounded on her. There was something wilder about him; he seemed more confident to push her to the brink than the last time they had run into each other. "_Philippa, Philippa, Philippa_, well aren't you everywhere?" He shook his head in amusement, revealing a set of pearly white teeth in a grin that bordered on a sneer.

"You will call me _Phil_," Phil followed him with her eyes, though he had begun circling her back and forth, and her eyes were starting to grow annoyed with his games.

"How about New-Kid? Or maybe Ugly-Twin? Unwanted-Child perhaps? Which one is it going to be?" She could tell he was waiting for her to let her guard down, waiting for the slightest chance to figure out her insecurities that he could later exploit. Almost as if he could read her mind he quickly added in, "Your mother must have loathed the two of you after your… how should I say it? Oh I know, fall from grace? Getting caught with a stash of weed in your possession, and you hadn't even been selling it at the time!" Phil's gaping mouth must have been hilarious to him, for he doubled over and let out a series of cold laughs. "You must have hated that promiscuous sister of yours, if she hadn't been caught rutting with a student that same night the teachers wouldn't have been alerted and _you_ wouldn't have gotten caught. Did you enjoy all that community service you had to endure? While your sister was at home getting down on other guys?"

Phil glared at his circling form, but before she could retort he had begun again, "Now how do I know this, Philippa? This is _my_ school, and I know _everything_ about _everyone_."

"_Stop calling me_—stop calling me Philippa!" Phil nearly screeched, but stopped herself last minute else the prefects came running to apprehend them. The last thing she needed was a prefect dragging her ass to the dorms. All she wanted to do right now was take hold of this boy so she could slap that grin off his face.

"Phil… Philippa… Druggy…" he tapped his chin, feigning innocence as he went through nicknames for her. "Oh I know, _Princess_. You'll have to contend against Christy and Pinky for that one, I'm afraid."

"Shut it! I'm not in the mood for you!" Phil made to push him away, but Gary was quick and nimble and he jumped back, only to round on her once again with that wicked grin of his.

"_My name is Phil and I hate my full name, hur-hur-hur_," he mocked cried, "_My life is so difficult because no one wants to help me sell drugs and Derby Harrington chose my twin over me!_"

How did he know? He noticed the change in her face and began circling her again, making the hairs on the back of her neck prickle in anger… and fear. "What's the matter, Phil? Couldn't finish your game of transferring cavities with the preps?"

"I should be surprised you're not off transferring cavities with Christy." At this he stopped and something in his eyes changed.

He must have noticed himself faltering for the shortest instant, though he quickly recovered with a malicious grin, "_What's that_?"

Now it was Phil's turn to sneer, "That's right. Now I can stand here and try to convince that condescending skull of yours that I know about your little trysts with Christy Martin, and you'll continue with your little mind games to get me to think otherwise." Phil paced around him, feigning a nonchalant air about her, "Or I can just let you know that I know, and I will use it against you as I see fit—"

Gary suddenly grasped her wrist and made her spin around to face him. The fact that Phil could tell he was fighting with himself to hold back brought shivers to her very spine. "You're playing a dangerous game, missy."

"—Unless… you give me a little help," Phil tried to give him an innocent smile, but seeing as she was slowly growing to despise him, doing just that proved to be incredibly difficult. "Gary as much as you hate to believe this, I'm not out to make enemies with anybody," _yet_, "It's called you scratch my back, and I scratch yours." Phil was finally able to free his grip from her wrist, massaging her bruised skin while she spoke, "If the rumors going around the school of you trying to take over are true, I'd imagine you'd want to make as many allies as possible."

His lips were spreading to an ear-to-ear grin while she spoke, though this newly-found glee was absent in those mad eyes of his. "I think we got off on the wrong foot."

"I agree."

Gary slithered behind her and snaked his arm around her shoulders as he said, "Well my _friend_, it's time I introduce you to our very own school hobo." Phil shuddered at his touch as he led her to the school parking lot, all the while he whispered by her ear, "Now what do you know about Christy Martin?"

She grew weary of his sudden mood change, but decided she couldn't complain, after all she was getting this mentally unstable kid to finally help her out. "She's in love with you."

"I can't blame her. Few can resist these good looks."

Phil was tempted to snort condescendingly, instead she bit her tongue and allowed him to guide her to that broken down school bus. He let her pass through first, and Phil was surprised the bus was actually a passageway to a muddy path out of the school. Her feet sunk loudly into the fresh mud with every step she took, and Phil often had to look behind to make sure Gary was still there, for his steps were so quiet he almost seemed like a ghost. He wasn't grinning anymore, instead a dark look that made her feel like a fool for trusting him settled on his eyes. Indeed, she was a fool for making a deal with the Devil.

They pushed a shabby gate open and Phil's nose wriggled in discomfort at the stench that filled her nostrils. Something spurred from within the darkness and Phil was about to turn to Gary to scream at him for deceiving her. "BLOODY KIDS! CAN'T A MAN REST IN PEACE FOR A SINGLE FUCKING NIGHT?" A raspy voice bellowed from behind a cluttered dump of trash and clothes. Phil squinted to detail the man under the moonlight, and she nearly jumped back at the sight of the bearded homeless man that paced towards her. "WHAT IS IT?"

Phil spun wildly but Gary had banished. _The bastard_! He had lured her to a hobo that was probably going to strangle her to death for interrupting his sleep! She raised her hands up in defense and quickly blurted, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to bother you!"

"Well whatdaya want?" He bent forward a little, also detailing her in the dim light.

Phil's mind raced. Maybe this wasn't a trap? Well she would take her chances, and if it turned out to be just a set up by Gary then she would bloody well declare war against him. "Um, my friend told me I could get drugs from you?" This always worked in Cali, maybe it would work here in Bullworth, too.

The man gave her an incredulous look before bursting out in laughter. "You're asking me for drugs? Don't you think if I had any I would have done them myself?"

"I want to buy a lot of drugs. Like a lot. To sell." Phil backed away slightly, appalled by his stench.

He eyed for a long while, and just when Phil was about to turn around in defeat, he told her, "I can hook you up with weed, but weed only."

"Will you?" Phil was so desperate she didn't care if this hobo ended up being her supplier. At least she didn't have to go to town to get a hook up.

"How much do you want?"

"All that you can give me. I, erm, have some clients that would very much appreciate it," Phil lied.

Again, he burst into laughter, "A dealer? I get it. Very well. I like ya kid, I know some people and guess I can hook ya up. Come back tomorrow, same time same place, and bring cash, lots of cash. Bring a radio transistor and I'll even throw in a gift."

_A transistor, huh?_

* * *

**Appendix:**

**El Patron**: a brand of tequila liquor.

**Juvie**: short for juvenile detention center (JDC).

* * *

Please leave a review :).


	5. The Whispers of Bullworth

_Act I: "Now Is the Start"_

**~~~ooooo~~~**

**Chapter V: The Whispers of Bullworth**

Who would have thought that Bullworth's own hobo would end up becoming Phil's supplier? The old man had a knack for sneaking in and out of school (back to his hiding place behind the school bus), so Phil never had to leave grounds to get her _merchandise_. Phil got herself into debt with Derby the day after their make-out game, borrowing the cash she needed to pay for Hobo's weed. Fortunately for Phil, Derby had been so infatuated with her sister that he simply let her have the money without asking too many questions.

At first, Phil was annoyed that the hobo denied selling her anything but weed, but she figured it was for the best, since she was new to the business in this shady town anyways. And so far her only clients were the preps; a couple days ago she gifted Gord Vendome a gram and he quickly told the others about it. Phil's dro was cheaper and, according to Gord, was much better quality than the stuff the greasers sold in New Coventry.

As for her failure with the make-out game, the preps simply called her a loser for bailing out on their game and moved on to the juicy gossip that Derby Harrington was now supposedly in love with Gwendolyn Newberry. And this was indeed shocking, since the Harringtons and the Newberrys didn't even have a single blood relative in common.

The noon bell rang and students bustled in and out of the cafeteria, some waited in line to get Edna's wonderful meals (today's special was an awkward meat pie with questionable mashed potatoes) while others brought in food from town. Phil stood by the entrance to the eating hall, and it was in moments like this that she felt she really didn't have any friends in Bullworth. Gwen sat with the preps, her arm latched around Derby Harrington, since they were an official couple now. Phil considered sitting with her, but the memory of their make-out game two weeks ago was fresh in her mind, and she still didn't feel comfortable getting friendly with the preps.

Her idle musings were interrupted when someone bumped into her on their way to the cafeteria. Gary Smith passed by her before turning to her fully, mouthing a "Come."

Under any other circumstances she would have quite rudely turned him down, but Phil didn't have anyone else to eat with, so she simply following him without a single objection. Gary sat on the same table him and Jimmy and the other boy she soon learned was named Pete always ate in. Phil, feeling a little awkward to be invited into their table of rejects, sat hesitantly next to him.

"Hey Phil," Petey offered her a shy smile, his eyes momentarily settling on Gary in case he angered him by being overly friendly to Phil.

Gary never took heed. Instead Jimmy blurted out, "Petey. My homework. Now. Stop dilly-dallying." Then he turned to Phil, "'Sup Phil, nice to see you eating at the cafeteria for once. Did you come for me?" Jimmy still was under the delusion that she would make out with him, though as of late he had stopped being so outright blunt, which Phil was grateful for.

"You'd wish. But I bet not even someone like Phil would be interested in a psychopath like you." Gary sneered and Jimmy scowled, but the two eventually looked away, Jimmy continuing to force Petey to do his homework while Gary took out the food he brought in from town.

"What do you mean somebody like me?"

Gary looked at her, unamused. "A drug-dealing criminal like you."

"Oh because you're an angel."

The way those brown eyes of his looked at her made Phil wonder, for an instant, why he even invited her to their table in the first place, if he hated her so. "So, how can I be of use to you? Don't tell me you actually enjoy my company."

"I'm glad you realize I don't; makes it easier to get to the point if I don't have to waste my energies pretending."

"Are you sure you're supposed to do that?" Jimmy blurted Petey's way, pointing at his messy notes and interrupting Phil's and Gary's exchange. Phil observed the pages Jimmy was pointing at, realizing they must be working on some kind of Math homework.

"Just trust me on this—" Petey whispered.

Jimmy snatched the notes and pointed. "Look, I wrote the quadratic equation here!"

"Jimmy that's not it."

"Oh so you're saying the teacher's wrong now?"

"No, he means you're a dimwit who can't take proper notes," Gary interrupted, getting Jimmy even more heated about his Math notes.

"Shut it, Gary. Don't even pull the condescending card on me cause everyone and their moms' know you suck dick at Math."

Phil just giggled. Gary's lips spread into a wicked grin Phil was all too familiar with, and he began, "Oh I'm glad you bring up the subject of sucking dicks, I'm sure you're quite the expert at it."

Petey burrowed his head in his arms, leaning down on the table else he get in between the two boys. Phil, annoyed that she was sensing an argument brewing, put her hand down hard on the table and quickly asked Gary, "How did you know the hobo would sell me drugs?"

In an instant his mood changed, and Gary forgot all about Jimmy. Jimmy, slightly appalled at both Phil and Gary, turned back to his homework, murmuring incoherent curses. "Look_ Phil_," he had acquired the tendency of addressing her like she was an unpleasant child that he was forced to deal with, "Let me get something straight here, since you don't seem to get the point." Phil crossed her arms, unfazed by his attitude. "This is my school. I know what everyone does, I know what everyone says, I know what everyone is willing to do, and I know everyone's dirty little secret. For instance, what if I told you that Trent Northwick and Kirby Olsen are gay for each other? Or that Tad Spencer is so inbred he had to get his sixth finger surgically removed? Even teachers; I know Mr. Galloway is so hot for Ms. Phillips he even ate her out once, though I think he was wasted at the moment," Gary burst into those crazy laughs of his.

"I know that Petey likes to jack off to Victoria's Secrets' catalogs, and that Jimmy has actually made out with Beatrice Trudeau even on the days that her cold sore looked particularly explosive, _ugh_," Both Jimmy and Petey looked at him wide-eyed but Gary nonchalantly continued, "I know that Derby Harrington is planning to bang his new girlfriend within the following week (doesn't that bother you?), just like I know that you don't even try out your pot before selling it. Now you are quite the terrible entrepreneur, did you know?"

"Is that all?" Phil pretended to yawn.

"'_Is that all'_?" Petey nearly screeched. He looked slightly teary eyed, but he ran away from the table before Gary had any time to salt the wound.

"You watch Petey jack off, man? That's sick." Jimmy closed his notebook, probably annoyed he wouldn't get to finish his homework anytime soon.

"Jimmy, are you afflicted with Down Syndrome?"

"With _who_?"

Gary could only roll his eyes at Jimmy's ignorance. He leaned forward with that twisted smile of his and asked Phil, "So what about you? What's your deepest, darkest secret?"

Phil crossed her arms, leaning back, and snorted, "As If I'd tell—"

But just at that moment two jocks came up to their table. They chuckled condescendingly as they approached, one edging the other one forward, until one asked, "So Gary, is it true your daddy raped you, man?"

The other one sniggered, "Did he do it up the butt? Or did he make you suck his dick? Don't tell me you swallowed!" The two jocks looked positively delighted at Gary's sudden flustered expression and they scurried away to the next table, loudly telling the students that ate there, "Man isn't it fucked up the reason Gary Smith is such a psycho is because he took it up the ass from his dad?" They hollered some more, going table to table, and soon half the cafeteria was filled with laughter and whispers about Gary's newly-discovered 'secret.'

_Oooh_. Phil pressed her hand up to her mouth, delicately almost, trying her best not to let out any sniggers. A tense air filled their table, Phil and Jimmy exchanging glances and counting the seconds before Gary exploded. The soda can he had been holding was crushed in with a sickening crack and when Gary turned to look at her, Phil immediately regretted ever sitting down with him. "_Explain_."

Phil fidgeted with her hair, "Um, it's not true right?"

"_Of course it's not fucking true_!" Gary slammed his fist onto the table, making their plates of leftover food jump and splatter.

"Good. I've been itching to go beat somebody up." Jimmy punched his palm with his other fist, and it was then that Phil realized Jimmy was too good of a person to ever be friends with the likes of Gary.

"Just shut your mouth, Jimmy. _Phil_?"

"Well… Christy said she was going to start a rumor about you being a sociopath because your dad raped you." Then something struck her; Phil leaned forward and told him with sass in her voice, "Maybe if you hadn't been tapping that ass—"

"Alright you can leave now." Suddenly Gary wasn't so fazed by the whispering around him anymore, in fact, he looked almost… bored?

"What?"

"You're not needed in this table anymore. Go. Scram!" He shooed her like she was some kind of stray, flea-bitten dog. "Get out of here before I have to literally kick you myself."

"You have to be fucking kidding me."

Phil gathered her things and just as she was getting up from the stool he told her, his tone aloof, "Oh and if you hear any more rumors going around the school you better bring that drug-dealing ass of yours over to me and tell me everything about it."

_As if_.

"Remember what you said to me about all that back-scratching!" He yelled after her.

Great. The last thing she needed was to sell her soul to Gary Smith, but now it was too late.

**~~~ooooo~~~**

Phil spent her entire afternoon locked up in the library. Her intentions had been to study for her Biology exam, but instead she had been bombarded by the entire nerds' clique with questions about her life and about her sister and forced to listen to the many roleplaying ways in Grottos and Gremlins. She would have rejected all their advances, if it weren't for the fact that at the same time she was trying to get their help for Biology. They were a majority, however, so Phil got little to no work done.

She stepped out of the library and walked down the path leading to the dorms in silence. Her gaze lingered on the black and orange decoration that hung from the pillars outside the library. Halloween day was tomorrow, and the school was overly decorated with fake cobwebs and paper cut-outs of ghosts. If she were back home she would probably be planning Halloween parties with her friends and stocking up on weed and ecstasy to sell (people loved to buy drugs for Halloween). Instead, she was most likely going to spend the night studying for school, locked up in her dorm like a loser.

Phil thought of Gwen; Gwen was never excited about trick o' treating, and she would participate in the activities even less now that she was all lovey-dovey with Derby. Then her mind trailed to Jimmy, Gary, and Petey, and couldn't help but grimace at herself. Trick o' treating with that bunch? If she was mad, maybe.

It was dark out, probably past 7 o'clock. The temperature had dropped considerably since she first came to Bullworth, so the school grounds remained empty as most students were sheltered in their hang out places or in their dorms. The school was so empty that Phil was slightly startled when a jock walked out from a hedge. He half-mindedly waved and Phil felt silly for being so jumpy, "Out working tonight, huh? Slut."

"Huh?" But the boy continued on his journey and had walked away before Phil could ask what he had been talking about. She fumed for a second; she didn't even know who he was and he was already accusing her of shit!

Phil rounded a corner into the path that led to the girl's dorm and almost ran into a tall, built boy. Judging from the stench and from his stained shirt Phil didn't even had to look up to know that it was a bully. Her heart jumped a little when her eyes traveled up and met Tom Gurney's gaze. "Phil! Just who I was looking for!"

He was holding a torn, heart-shaped, red box that reminded her of old Valentine's Day chocolates. She backed up a little and, not hiding her annoyance, asked, "Can I help you?"

"One sec!" He fumbled with his pockets and pulled out several crumpled dollars. Tom was blushing when he made to hand her the box of chocolates and the crumpled dollars. "Here!"

"What in the world are you doing?" Phil took small steps back, her heart sinking when she felt the hedge behind her. Once again she found herself trapped between the school hedges and a boy.

"I want you—" he didn't seem able to gather the right words. "I want you and I to go on a date, and you know, maybe a little more after," he winked and revealed a set of yellow teeth. "Here's my payment."

"What? A date? Payment? Tom back off, I don't frigging know what you're talking about." She tried to push him away, all the while holding her breath, appalled at the stench of his mouth, but he just wouldn't bulge.

"Look, you playing tough and everything is hot and all, but let's go before it's curfew and the prefects start cockblocking."

His head had leant closer to her and Phil could only look away, terribly disgusted. "I'm not doing anything with you, just back the fuck off!"

"Giiiiirl, I got money I'll pay you, and my cousin will hook us up with a place at The Tenements. Let's just _go_."

Before Phil could protest though, Tom was already tugging on her wrist, nearly dragging her away from the hedge. "Stop it Tom! I'm not doing anything with you!" Phil couldn't believe her rotten luck. What had she done now that made this idiot believe that she would _ever_ do anything with him? "Stop—" Phil was ready to screech, but they were both startled when someone suddenly came out of the bushes and grasped both his and her arm, wrenching them apart.

The shorter person shoved Tom away, standing between them. Phil's eyes nearly doubled in size when she recognized that shaven head. "Piss off you idiot! Don't tell me you're into raping girls now!"

"_Hopkins_!" Tom's face went from red to blue, contorting in rage. He lunged for Jimmy, and the shorter boy pushed Phil to the side before ducking out of Tom's reach. In an instant they were at each other's neck, but Jimmy had always been a better fighter than Tom, and soon the bigger boy was running away with his tail between his legs.

Jimmy then turned to Phil, his lip bleeding. "You ok? And what the hell was that? I was walking back from town and all I hear is you screaming at him.

Phil held herself with both hands, slightly shaken from the exchange. "I don't know," she motioned at the chocolates and the money that had fallen to the ground, "He came up to me offering me this and told me to come with him to The Tenements for a date or something."

Jimmy grimaced before picking up the dollars and pocketing them. The old chocolates were promptly forgotten.

"Jimmy, walk me to the dorm?" It couldn't hurt asking, and for once Phil decided she would let her guard down. At least Jimmy was one of the few, half-decent people in this hellhole, and suddenly she wasn't afraid to trust him.

"Sure," he shrugged.

"And don't ask me to make out," the words left her mouth before she realized, but really, for once it felt good to be honest.

Jimmy smiled crookedly up at her and offered his hand out, which she took. "I wouldn't anyways. Not after _that_. Anyways it must suck to be a girl, especially in this school." _Oh you've no idea_. "Except no one will beat you up though…" his thoughts trailed and before both realized they were already at the steps of the girl's dorm.

They smiled at each other awkwardly for a couple seconds, until Phil coughed, "Well, thanks again. Come to think of it, you've saved me from Tom Gurney twice now."

He flashed white teeth past that crooked smile of his. Phil would have liked to call the color on his cheeks a blush, but really, Jimmy was just perpetually pink-faced. He turned to walk away and Phil didn't know what possessed her to do it, but she quickly reached out for his wrist to stop him and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Aw yeah!" Jimmy touched the spot with a triumphant look on his face and Phil immediately regretted her intrepidity. "Finally!"

She tsk'ed. "Now go on," Phil waved him off before walking in to the building.

Phil wasn't so shaken by the time she was walking down the hallways of the girl's dorm. The exchange left her completely flabbergasted though. Why was Tom demanding that she take his money for a date? His words echoed in the depths of her mind and Phil remembered he was asking for more than just a date. The thought made her shudder.

She wasn't paying attention where she was walking, so she nearly tripped when someone called out her name loudly. Phil turned back, a blank look on her face. "Philippa!" Phil recognized that voice, she took a detour and entered Gwen's dorm.

Eunice sat by her pink desk, which was cluttered with a notebook and an assortment of candy. Gwen had been sitting on the bed, her notebooks splayed out on her bed. Her twin got to her feet and went over to Eunice's side. "Look sweetheart, twin talk here. Be a dearie and take a hike," she ushered the bigger girl out, and Phil could only roll her eyes at her sister.

Gwen shut the door behind her and rounded on Phil. "Philippa!" Gwen knew Phil hated her name, so she only called her that when she was particularly vexed about something.

"_Gwendolyn_." Gwen glared at her for an instant before sitting down on the bed and motioning her to do the same.

"According to the latest school gossip, you and I take money for sex."

Phil was slightly amused, well_ she_ didn't. Now Gwen was a whole different story. Gwen must have recognized the look on her face, "They're calling us sluts!"

"Well that explains…"

"Explains what?" Her twin snapped.

"I was nearly raped by Tom Gurney moments ago."

"And that's amusing to you?"

"No—"

"I can't have people talking about me that way, _I am_ going out with the richest guy in the school, after all," Gwen slumped herself on the bed and stretched. Her accomplishments in life were who she dated, which was kind of sad, but Phil still loved her all the same.

"Which is why the stupid rumors wouldn't even make sense in the first place! Why would you take money for sex if all you have to do is fuck Derby Harrington to get everything you could ever want?" Phil also laid next to her. If viewed from the ceiling, it almost seemed like a mirror had been placed next to Phil, creating an identical, mirror image of herself.

Gwen glared at her. "This is your fault you know," She elaborated after Phil gave her a look of bewilderment, "Christy told me Mandy started the rumors, and she's only doing it because you had to hit her!"

Phil got up to leave, opening the door, "And you want me to go apologize to Mandy so that she stops talking smack?" Her brown eyes glared at her sister from her spot in the doorway. "Whatever, I have to do it anyways, otherwise Crabblesnitch is gonna call mom."

"If it makes you feel better, if they stop thinking that we take money for sex, then you won't have to deal with another near-rape incident!" Phil heard her sister yell after her once she began walking down the hallway. Eunice was standing inconspicuously by the wall, her hands buried in a bag of Hershey's chocolates. "Make her life miserable for me, will ya?" Phil winked Eunice's way and ascended up the stairs, back to her room.

**~~~ooooo~~~**

It was well over her second week at Bullworth and she still didn't have anyone she could truly call friend. It was sad, if she really thought about it. Phil had been so preoccupied with not associating herself with any of the maniacs in Bullworth that she had actually succeeded and had turned into a loner. Even the nerds had more friends than she did. Phil thought of Gary and Jimmy and Petey and almost gagged. Well scratch that, Jimmy wasn't all that bad anymore.

The thought of spending yet another lunch by herself appalled her, so Phil didn't even show her face in the cafeteria, yesterday's events of Gary's rumors replaying in her mind like a broken record. What was his problem, anyways? First he invited her to their table only to treat her like crap. And now she was supposed to be working for him, just because he hooked her up with the hobo. _Big-fucking-deal_. Phil left the building and headed towards the Gym, intent on finally finding Mandy and getting this apologizing business over with.

Her feet took her to the fountain that divided Shop, Harrington House, and Gym, and it was then that a jock she had never seen before tossed a handful of pennies her way. "Here! If you're so desperate then have this!" Phil gasped at the coins that hit her skin and uniform, and a couple others jocks joined in on their jeering. "Slut!" They would call out.

"Wait, don't bruise her, I wanna have her pretty for tonight!" Suddenly the greasers in the vicinity were also hollering, the words _slut _and _whore_ often standing out within the laughter.

Phil ran towards the Gym, her heart racing in sheer humiliation. She had to get this done with, and fast. Phil pushed open the Gym doors, and since it was lunch, only the jocks ate here, including Mandy. Her group had been talking and laughing about something, but the moment Phil entered through the doors they quieted down, an intimidating silence settling over the Gym.

Mandy immediately recognized her, and she stood and descended from the bleachers, her posse trailing after her. "_Well well well_, if it isn't the Newberry twin _whore_."

Phil simply chewed on the inside of lip. She took a deep breath and approached Mandy. By now, though, a wall of jocks was standing behind the head cheerleader, so Phil kept a slight distance. "Mandy, look, I came to apologize—"

Her words were cut short by Mandy's shrilly laugh. "Apologize? Just who the hell do you think you are, huh? Coming here to Bullworth like you know how anything's run?" Phil didn't know what to say, which was fine, since Mandy only continued ranting, "No one, and I mean _no one_, touches this face and gets away with it."

"Alright, I get it, that's why I'm apologizing!" Maybe sucking up to her would save her hide this once? Or not.

"You stupid bitch! I'm never going to take an apology from you! Especially not after you spread those rumors!" Suddenly her calm façade evaporated away and Mandy erupted in hysterical yells.

"Rumors? What rumors—"

"Grab her boys!" And at the snap of her fingers two jocks came behind her and each grabbed her by the arm.

"You're the one that's telling everyone I take money for sex!" Phil called out, trying to free herself from their grasp, but they were much stronger than her.

"SHUT IT! Pinky told me you've been telling everyone you found a pregnancy test in my closet!"

Phil's mouth hung open.

"Why were you even snooping around in my closet in the first place? Were you planning on stealing my cheerleading clothes? Was that it? _You envious slut_!" Phil would have laughed at the irony that the false rumors she absolutely had nothing to do with were actually true, but realized that in her predicament it probably wouldn't be wise.

"You can't let her get away with that, Mandy!"

"Don't let that slut talk shit about you!" The jocks around her were edging Mandy on like devils on her shoulder, and Phil could only shake her head fervently, her eyes begging for mercy.

Mandy, too, shook her head, "No I won't."

"Mandy I swear I didn't have anything to do with it!" But Mandy would have none of that. She gave Phil a weak slap, which undoubtedly paled in comparison to the smack Phil gave her weeks ago…

"Look at her! Do it again!" The jocks continued, giving Mandy further encouragement until Mandy punched her in the stomach. It hurt, and Phil doubled over slightly, though it almost felt like Mandy was seriously lacking arm strength.

"You messed with the wrong bitch, _bitch_." Mandy whispered close to her, but Phil couldn't help smirking, igniting Mandy's anger once again. "I'll hit you again!" She threatened.

"Yeah!" Several jocks hollered.

"Yeah," it was almost as if Mandy needed some kind of lame confirmation, and she punched her in the stomach twice, only that this time Mandy punched the air out of her. Phil's knees gave in and she found herself hanging by arms, which were still in the jocks' grips. "Bring her here boys," Phil heard Mandy say, and they began dragging her somewhere, but Phil still had her eyes closed in pain.

Her eyes fluttered opened and she watched Mandy fuss with a sturdy, rusted door in the far corner of the Gym, behind the bleachers. "Now look, it doesn't have to this way, I'll leave you alone! I'll lay low! Really!" Phil could only whisper faintly, but it was just _so_ painful to breathe.

"Shut it, Newberry! You'll get what you deserve, simple!" The jocks had to help Mandy open the door and Phil only dreaded what they had in mind. They dragged her forward and Phil realized this was some kind of dingy, tightly crammed storage place. Dust littered the walls and the floor, and several brooms and deflated basketballs stood against the walls. At Mandy's command, they pushed Phil forward, and for once Phil fought with her arms and legs with all her might to escape their grasp, until somebody hit her _hard_ behind the head. Black spots blurred her vision, and the last thing she saw was a roach scurrying away the moment they dumped her into the closet. Then everything went black.

* * *

**Appendix:**

**Dro**: hydroponically grown marijuana. Meaning weed grown indoors.

* * *

Please leave a review :).


	6. Friends, Frenemies, Enemies

_End of Act I_

**~~~ooooo~~~**

**Chapter VI: Friends, Frenemies, Enemies**

Phil had lost track of time. She had screamed and trashed and cried and prayed, all in vain. Mandy and the jocks had tossed her, unconscious, into the storage shed and locked her within. She had awoken slowly much later, a dull throbbing in the back of her head awakening her, and for a second Phil convinced herself that it had all been a dream. Until her eyes opened and all she saw was black.

Her body was crumpled within the small closet and as she wiggled around to rearrange her legs she touched the lumps of dust and dead bugs that littered the space. Everything was dark, except for the square light that outlined the door. Even every breath she took was dense with the musky dust, evoking spasms of sneezes and coughs.

Her thoughts raced in disbelief at her disposition. How long would it take for anyone to find her? Would they only check after the rotting smell of her corpse penetrated the gym? Would Gwen ever bother to look for her missing twin? She screamed but knew it was futile, today was Halloween afternoon, and no one would ever come by the gym, at least not until tomorrow.

Phil moved uncomfortably and felt a hard object in her pocket. Her spirit soared when she realized she still had Gary's phone, which she always carried with her out of habit, even if she never used it. Her body rearranged awkwardly as she pulled the cell phone out, quickly pressing on any of the buttons, and almost slammed her own head against the door in sheer irritation when she realized it was out of batteries. Of course, she had carried that damn thing with her for two weeks, never bothering on getting Gary's charger—

"_Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone?_" A singing voice cut sharply across her musings suddenly, "_Oh where, oh where can he be?_"

Her skin prickled the moment she recognized that mocking tone, those cold cackles. She heard footsteps nearing and gleeful sniggers and didn't hesitate before screaming out, "_Gary_? GARY!"

The lock of the storage shed clicked once, twice, and Phil was blinded by the light when Gary swung the door open. She briefly shielded her eyes from the light, then her gaze came upon that twisted grin of his. Gary extended his hand out, which she graciously took, and pulled her up to her feet.

"You look like death," he sneered in amusement.

Phil wiped the smudged mascara from her eyes and smiled graciously, "Thank you, Gary."

His hands found his pockets and he turned to leave, shrugging indifferently, "Don't mention it."

Phil quickly followed right after him, a sort of grateful admiration for Gary breeding deep within her. Then, as she thought twice about their disposition, Phil asked suddenly, "But… how did you know I was here?" She gazed his way, noticing the corner of his lips curving upward slowly.

"So tell me about the rumors," he quickly changed the subject, his smirk now quite visible. They stopped briefly before opening the door of the gym while Gary waited for her answer, still amused.

Phil figured his glee must have been at the fact that she had been trapped in a dingy storage shed the entire afternoon and not because of anything else… right? Either way, she was gracious for his help, so she quickly complied, "Christy was the one that started the rumor about you being raped by your dad, Mandy started the rumors about me and my sister being sluts and taking money for sex, and I don't know who started the rumor about Mandy's pregnancy test, because I didn't—"

"I did," his eyes shone in contempt.

"What—" Phil suddenly had the horrible thought that he was setting her up for something.

"All you have to do is whisper the right words in the right ears, and watch the magic unfold." He began scrutinizing his bitten fingernails, as if he were simply commenting on the good weather.

Phil didn't have to be told twice to understand what he had done though. She put two and two together and her lips quickly inverted her smile into a frown. "Why would you do that?" Her admiration towards him dissolved and her mood dropped as she realized his intentions hadn't been as benign as she had assumed.

If seen from a stranger's point of view, his gleeful countenance would have appeared attractive, charming even, but Phil knew better. "Because I knew it would land you in a _dirty, cockroach-infested, little closet_," shivers traveled through Phil's spine at his spiteful tone, and she remained speechless for a second, so he continued, "Mandy had been contemplating her revenge against you for quite a while, did you know? All she needed was a little push—"

"What the fuck, Gary!" Phil's ears seared red when she gave his shoulders a mighty shove, making him stagger a few steps back.

Gary wouldn't be bothered by her aggression though, for he was having too much fun. He laughed in delight and responded, "You think you've got me figured out? You think you can just come up to me and demand my help and try to blackmail me just because you know I like to fuck Christy Martin?" He took a step forward, his eyes dangerous. "This is just to show you that _I_ rule this school. And you're either with me or against me. There's no middle ground." He took a painful grasp of Phil's chin, though no matter how hard she fought to shake him away she just couldn't. "You can't outwit me _Philippa_," her name rolled out of his mouth slowly, just to vex her. "Do something stupid like that again and I'll do more than just lock you up in a closet for an afternoon. _Try a week_." He broke out into those crazy laughs and finally released hold of her sore chin.

Her mind absorbed his words with caution, but her rage got the best of her, and she shoved him once again, now nearly shrieking. "_What the fuck is your problem? All I wanted was a little information, it's not like you had to lift a finger to help me! Asshole!_"

He laughed and her blood boiled within her. "I'm not out to make friends with anyone! Stop flattering yourself that I care so much about what you do! And I'll do whatever it takes to survive this fucking school! Even if that means war with Mandy and the jocks! Or selling drugs! Or—"

"Or fraternizing with me?" He cut her off, but Phil was too irritated to reply.

She gave him a third push, though Gary was too amused at her anger to defend himself. Not like she stood a chance against him or anything… Phil huffed at herself and quickly turned to leave the Gym. She could hear him nonchalantly following her, though she tried her best to ignore his presence behind her.

Phil stormed towards the school fountain, fuming at the fact that Gary continued to follow her in the same direction. She was about to turn around and punch him square in the face when loud screams coming from behind her caught her attention. Phil and Gary whipped around and Phil watched, open-mouthed, how two jocks ran out the doors of the second gym. She recognized them to be the two jocks who had hollered about Gary's 'raping' yesterday during lunch.

They ran forward and stripped their clothes off and scratched themselves in sheer panic, hollering in agony. Passersby stopped to laugh and jeer, and slowly her mood changed and she laughed, too, as the stupid jocks stripped to their underwear in terror, leaving red marks along their skins where they scratched furiously. Beside her, Gary doubled over in mirth, and Phil immediately had the hunch that he was behind it all.

"Showing them a lesson for talking shit about you?" She inquired in irritation, but Gary continued to laugh and ignored her. "Of course you wouldn't have the balls to go up to them and confess that it was you who put itching powder in their clothes."

By now the jocks had calmed down to some extent, and it was then that they realized just how publicly naked they were. The crowd continued to roar with giggles and cackles and sneers, and they gathered their clothes and ran back to the gym from whence they came, red faced and embarrassed.

Gary straightened out and continued with his mocking smile, "This is my school, Phil."

"I get the point, jackass." From the corner of her eyes Phil saw a familiar red head emerge from the crowd and walk around the school fountain. Christy spared Phil and Gary a nervous glance, though the terrified look she shot Gary's way made Phil's curiosity flutter. What had really happened between them? Phil felt pity for Christy now that she had an idea of Gary's insanity. What had he done to her to incite such a reaction?

Now that the commotion had died the crowd began dispersing, and Phil turned back to her original course, Gary still at her heel. "So, you and Christy, exactly what went down?"

"What's wrong Phil? I thought you were wise and all-knowing. How are you going to threaten me with information if you don't know shit?"

Phil gave him a look and was surprised to see him frowning. Sometimes he could have quite the uncanny mood changes, she noticed. "Let me get something straight here; I'm not at a point in my life where I'm interested in girls. To be honest, girls are only good for fucking, nothing more."

She glared, but decided against wasting her breath by arguing with him. She pulled his useless cellphone out of her pockets and roughly shoved it onto his hands. "Here, take this piece of shit back."

Gary was startled for a second. "So you had it all along? You little thief, I should have known better. I know you're the one who stole my pills. You're an idiot to think I wouldn't notice. See, Phil? I _allowed_ you to keep them, just like I _allowed_ you to think you had any power over me, just like I_ allowed_ you to get out of the gym closet after a few hours. I'm the one that's _allowing_ you to have a merry little time here in Bullworth, because otherwise you'd be in the nuthouse by now."

Phil was about to dash away from him but stopped at the last moment at his words. For a second or two they glared at each other, until Phil couldn't stand the image of his face any longer and swiftly turned away, rounding to the path that led to the girls' dorm.

She fumed and chanted curses directed at Gary in her head over and over and_ over_ on her way back. He was such an insufferable egomaniac! But what pissed her off the most was the fact that he was right. She had been a fool to think that she could just come to this school and slap the shit out of Mandy Wiles and blackmail Gary Smith without it coming back to bite her in the ass. Especially in a school like Bullworth Academy.

Phil remembered the terrified feelings that crept to her skin when she had been locked up in the storage room earlier and decided that perhaps she didn't want to deal with the drama anymore. Maybe she should just go and apologize to Mandy, _really_ apologize, that way she could kill two birds with one stone. Mandy would be appeased, and Dr. Crabblesnitch wouldn't call her mother to snitch.

The sun had set by the time Phil came into the girl's dormitories. Several of the younger girls were already dressed up in their Halloween costumes, and were running up and down the main hallways, excitedly holding on to their trick 'o treating bags. Mrs. Peabody was nowhere to be seen, so the girls were actually getting away with their racket.

Phil snuck a peek Gwen's bedroom's way, noticing her sister engrossed in a textbook. She decided she didn't want to deal with Gwen's pretentious attitude just now and quickly ascended the stairs up to her room. Tonight she would apologize to Mandy, but first she needed to change her dirtied uniform. When she waltzed into her room, though, every resolution to make peace with the cheerleader evaporated away.

Scattered all over her bed were her uniform blouses, and upon closer inspection Phil realized they had all been marked in red with the word_ slut _across the front. Phil touched the dry paint, grimacing; the words had been painted with red nail polish. Her entire uniform wardrobe was ruined! All her Bullworth blouses had the word _slut_ upon them, not a single one had been spared. Phil nearly ripped the fabric in her irritation and stormed out of the room.

She had half a mind to find Mandy and slap the shit out of her again. Instead, Phil descended down the stairs and rounded into Gwen's bedroom. Both Gwen and Eunice looked up, startled, and Eunice quickly scrambled to her feet and out the room when Phil gave her a murderous glare. Phil extended out the blouse in her hands so that her twin could see, her eyes burning. "Look at what Mandy did to my shirts!"

"Whoa—calm down Phil…" Gwen left her desk and cautiously approached her twin.

"_Look_! She painted on_ all _of my shirts!"

Gwen took the piece of clothing, inspecting it. "Phil I told you to go apologize."

"I went to apologize! And you know what she did? She ganged up on me, beat me up, and locked me in a bloody closet! It never occurred to you where your darling sister spent the entire afternoon, Gwen?" At this point Phil wanted to cry, but Gwen didn't deserve her tears, not just now.

Gwen gave her that serious look of hers, the one she'd always have for her whenever Phil lost her temper, and Phil immediately felt soothed. Gwen took her arm and the two quietly settled next to each other by the bed. "_Philly_, come on… We came to this school to have fun, remember? It's ok to make a mess and to stir shit up and to screw around with guys and to sell drugs and get high off your mind. It's ok to start fights with idiotic cheerleaders who don't really know what it's like to be vile. Remember Sarah Ford? Now she was a real bitch." Gwen mentioned their nemesis back in California, and she was right. Mandy was just a little person whose entire world revolved around a miserable boarding school.

Her sister got to her feet, opening the closet and fishing for her blouses. "I'll let you have some of my uniform." She pulled out two blouses, which were fashioned in her signature, trashy style, and handed them to Phil.

Phil gave the blouses a disgusted look; these were definitely too small to properly cover anything… She got up to leave, now considerably appeased. "Thanks, _Gwenny_."

"But I'm gonna have to charge you for that."

Phil rolled her eyes, she shouldn't have been surprised. "I'll pay you with my drug money," Phil waved as she walked out into the noisy hallway, Gwen's melodious laughter following her.

**~~~ooooo~~~**

The sky had darkened by the time Phil stepped out of the dormitories. Children were already out on school grounds with their costumes and fights and pranks, the animosity up a notch. Phil figured it was because neither the prefects nor the teachers were around. She momentarily wondered if it would be a good idea to step out of her haven during Halloween night, but manned up and decided that this had to be done, and the sooner the better.

She walked towards the boys' dorm, stretching out her newly acquired uniform to cover her belly, but instead only succeeded in exposing her cleavage even more. How Gwen managed to deal with these skimpy clothes was a mystery to her. From the corner of her eye she spotted Tom Gurney, and was almost afraid that he would try something again, but upon sight he quickly turned away and pretended she didn't exist. Perhaps Jimmy's beating had given him a hint, which was all the more reason why Phil needed to do this.

She swung the door to their dorm open and stepped inside without hesitation. Her nose wriggled in discomfort at the blatant stench in the building, and everywhere she looked she saw trash and stains and dirt, which was a stark difference to the girls' dorm. To Phil though, it looked homely enough, unlike the fakeness and tidiness of the girls' dorm. Phil walked in to the game room and didn't have to look far to find who she had been looking for.

"_Ooooh_ girl in boys' dorm alert!" Jimmy joked the moment he saw her. He had been sprawled out on the couch, clad in a skeleton costume and holding a complementary face mask, which he was about to put on.

By now Phil felt a lot more familiar to Jimmy, so she promptly sat to his side. "Jimmy, remember when you told me you'd do whatever my spoiled heart desired?" She quickly got to the point.

"For the right price," he finished for her. He had leaned comfortably close to her and she could smell his body wash in his clothes; he was freshly out of the shower.

His proximity brought a blush to her cheeks, but Jimmy apparently never noticed. "I need you to be my bodyguard."

"Not for free, I hope." His eyes had traveled to her excessively exposed cleavage, making her grow increasingly self-conscious, "Is that your costume, or…?"

"No, this is Gwen's uniform. Mandy went and ruined all my shirts." She crossed her arms, hoping to maintain some decency.

"Ah… I've heard you're not so popular with the jocks."

"Which is why you need to be my bodyguard!"

"What's your offer?"

"Twenty bucks."

"Twenty bucks?"

"Twenty bucks."

"Twenty bucks a day?"

If Phil had been drinking anything she would have spluttered it all out. "No! Twenty bucks once!"

Jimmy leant dangerously close, to the point where she almost felt him towering over her in the couch. His breath smelled of Coca Cola, and Phil noticed his eyes were not really brown, but a curious shade of hazel, with pretty specks of yellow every here and there. "Firstly Phil, I'm no good against the jocks. This sounds to me like I'm just going to be taking the beatings to buy time for you to haul ass. Secondly, do you think I want to be beat up daily for a measly twenty dollar bill?"

She slowly pushed him back so that he would rest against the couch, "Fine. Five a day."

"_Five bucks_?"

"_Oh come on_. You know what they did to me? They locked me up in a dingy closet in the gym! I was stuck there all afternoon! Do you know what it's like to feel the roaches walking on your hands while it's all dark and shit—"

Now it was Jimmy's turn to slowly push her back against the couch. "_Chill._ Fine, five a day is good." The smile he offered her was sweeter than usual, as if he knew it would comfort her. And Phil couldn't help but smile back, her gaze absorbing the whole of him.

"Thank you, Jimmy."

**~~~ooooo~~~**

"This better be good," Gord wrinkled his face pompously the moment they made the exchange. He handed her a twenty dollar bill that looked almost brand new while Phil waved the Ziploc bag containing a mossy green lump of marijuana. He opened the bag greedily, taking a small whiff of the contents.

"Satisfied?" Phil shifted her weight, looking around almost nervously, but no one was around the gardens of Harrington House at this time. All the students of Bullworth were off playing tricks on each other or getting candy from town.

"Pleasure doing business with you—"

"The pleasure's all mine," Phil waved him off and quickly jogged towards the fountain that separated the gyms, Harrington House, and shop. She wasn't in the mood for his flattery right now; don't get her wrong, she was proud to be best supplier of weed in school, but just now the stillness of the night kept her at edge. Phil knew she had to get back to her dorm quickly if she was to survive the night unscathed. Halloween was a night of pranks, and she had had enough with pranks for the day.

She was passing by the side of the school when she caught sight of a certain skeleton-clad delinquent climbing up the ivy-covered fence behind the main school building. Gary stood sniggering gleefully by the foot of the fence, his eyes on Jimmy. Phil tried to walk as quietly as possible by them without being noticed, but almost as if he could sense her presence, Gary turned and their eyes met.

Phil looked away sheepishly, but knew she was doomed when he jogged over to her. "Where's your costume?" He eyed her, now blocking her way forward. He was wearing a ridiculous Nazi outfit which almost seemed appropriate for the likes of him.

"I don't do Halloween."

He had snaked his arm around her neck in an instant and whispered to her ear, "Why? If you ask me, I love Halloween. You get to pull pranks on people and it's almost _expected_ of you!"

"Well I didn't ask you." His proximity was unnerving her, but she almost felt afraid to cross him just now, the memories of their previous exchange still fresh in her mind. Phil breathed slowly to calm herself; her new _bodyguard _was currently occupied with sneaking in to the school, so he wouldn't be able to save her if Gary decided to strangle her to death as his big Halloween prank.

They stopped walking and he faced her fully, his expression serious. "What I'm hinting at is that this is the perfect night to take revenge on someone."

She forcefully shook his hands off her shoulders and glared, her voice dripping with irritation, "Gary can you drop the mind games for once? What do you want?"

"I'm just trying to help you out—"

"Oh _now_ you want to help me."

He smiled at this. Gary rummaged in his pockets and pulled out a firecracker and a bag of itching powder, Phil's eyes rounding in alarm. She took several steps back but Gary was quick in grasping her wrist. She was about to object when the fire alarm in the school was activated. Both Phil and Gary turned to look at the flashing windows of the school in alarm, the eruption of loud voices followed, and overhead they could see Jimmy scrambling to climb down the ivy fence.

Gary and Phil exchanged a mischievous smile before both darting away from the scene. They ran together round the hedges that led to the girls' dorm, as if both knew this was exactly where they were meant to go. Gary doubled over in hysterical laughs and pants while Phil leant against the ivy-infested wall of the girls' dormitories to catch her breath.

From their spot behind the dorms they could hear the commotion of teachers emerging from the main Bullworth building in a mad hunt to chase after the perpetrator. They laughed together for a little while, and Phil almost felt weird. For the first time ever she didn't feel repulsed of him nor didn't have to exercise incredible amounts of self-control not to punch him.

Gary handed her the firecrackers and the itching powder, saying, "You know what has to be done."

She nodded and for a second wondered if he was a telepath, but quickly shook the thought away. The grass crunched loudly under their feet as Gary led her around to the ladder that was camouflaged by the ivy behind the dorms. He climbed up first and Phil followed behind him, almost obediently. He reached the top of the ladder and pushed hard on a loose window before jumping inside. Phil tried doing the same but only stumbled and rolled onto her bottoms in the dusty attic.

Gary sniggered at her blunder, motioning her to follow him. _So this is how he sneaks into the girls' dorm, huh_, she thought. They took the stairs down to the deserted second floor and almost automatically Phil walked into Mandy's bedroom, Gary at her tail. She looked at him for a second, almost as if asking for reassurance. He rummaged in his back pocket and pulled out a lighter.

They were deathly silent all the while, Phil's heart pumping hard in sheer excitement. They exchanged the lighter for the itching powder and Gary dumped it all under Mandy's comforter and mattress, while Phil lighted the firecracker and promptly locked it inside Mandy's wardrobe closet. The two teens then ran out, cackling deviously, and Phil pulled on the fire alarm on their way down the stairs. Behind them a loud eruption signaled the firecracker had gone off all over Mandy's clothes and belongings.

Phil and Gary laughed hysterically as they pushed the main doors open, tears of mirth rolling down Phil's cheeks. _Take that Mandy, now _you're_ the one with a ruined wardrobe._

* * *

Please leave a review :).


	7. Phil's New Associate

_Author's Note:_ since this story is going to be rated Fanfiction M in the near future due to drug content/language/adult situations, I have a question for you guys: should it also have a sex scene or no sex scene? Also, what are your thoughts on a happy ending or a sad ending?  
Enjoy and review!

* * *

_Act II: "Vanity and Friendship"_

**~~~ooooo~~~**

**Chapter VII: Phil's New Associate**

"_I will not tolerate any more calls from Dr. Crabblesnitch about your behavior! If I receive one more call, even a voicemail, I will fly there myself and take you to a different school! I will truly separate you two, now is that what you want?_"

Phil's leg fidgeted so furiously the small table where the phone rested began to shake as well, though she never noticed. "No mum," Phil twirled the telephone cord with her index and leant miserably against the sofa in Miss Danvers' lobby, her mother continuing to rant after Dr. Crabblesnitch called to tell her about Phil's incident with Mandy.

"_Now you two best behave, or you'll be spending the entirety of your high school years in boarding schools!_" There would be no appeasing her mother.

"You said you'd send us back at the end of the school year—" Phil started in a panic.

"_That's all up to your behavior._" There was a small pause, as if her mother was done ranting and was ready to ask her questions about her new life in Bullworth, which vexed Phil; if her mother truly cared about them she wouldn't have sent them across the country to this miserable excuse of a school.

"Can you send us money?" She interrupted before her mom could ask anything, or could continue with her rant, unable stop herself. Maybe if her mother sent them money she could drop the drugs.

"_No. Bullworth is not a resort. It's a place where you will learn life-long lessons and will learn to appreciate the worth of money. I spoiled you two too much and this is what I get. And you two better be doing well in school! Your grades matter if you want to be able to attend an Ivy League school like your father and I_—"

Like she wanted to go to an Ivy League school. No, for that she would go back to California, attend UCI or maybe Berkeley. Or go to Colorado, at least pot was legal there now. "Mom! _Mum_! Please spare me," _if you're not sending us money then I'm hanging up_, she wanted to say, but instead cooked up a quick lie, "I'm only fifteen, stop hassling me with that stuff! And I have to go, I volunteered as a tutor for little children, and we do the tutoring sessions during lunch—"

"_Oh!_" She'd bought it.

"Yeah you're preventing a little kid from receiving my amazing knowledge."

Her mother's spirit lightened and Phil heard her small chuckle from the other end of the receiver. The lie wasn't too farfetched; Phil did keep good grades in school, despite her rebellious _extracurricular activities_. "_Alright then, Philippa. Say hi to your sister for me and tell her not to forget that she, too, has a mother._"

"I thought you didn't want to receive a single call from Bullworth—"

"_You know what I mean!_"

They exchanged a quick goodbye and just at that instant Miss Danvers emerged from Dr. Crabblesnitch's office with a self-satisfied smirk plastered upon those thin lips. She glared Phil's way and promptly shooed her from the office.

The worst was over, so Phil could finally take a deep breath and relax. After hearing about Mandy's mysterious wardrobe accident during Halloween, Dr. Crabblesnitch had waited no longer and had called her mother to tell her about Phil's aggression during the first day of school. Perhaps he had suspected that Phil had something to do with it? Either way it meant that Phil didn't have to worry about apologizing to Queen Bee any longer. It also meant that in her mother's eyes she was one step closer to being shipped off to military school, but Phil chose to be optimistic.

Phil smoothed out her newly purchased uniform blouse as she rounded a corner and stopped immediately when her brown eyes caught sight of Gord kneeling by his locker across the hallway. This in itself wasn't out of the ordinary, except for the fact that he had been holding a Ziploc bag containing a considerable amount of a mushy green substance and was stuffing it into his locker. She stopped by the corner, hiding her body while her eyes scrutinized the contents of his bag. That couldn't possibly be anything he had bought from her, Phil never sold him _that _much weed, ever.

He straightened out and made to leave, making Phil briefly hide behind the corner while he walked away. That little pot-head bastard was buying weed from someone else still! And to think that she had considered him to be her favorite client. She shook the thought away and made her way down the stairs and into the bustling cafeteria, her stomach growling loudly.

Any other day Phil would have been able to afford food from town, but Jimmy's service was sucking her drug money dry, so today Phil begrudgingly made her way to the food line for Edna's lunch. She got her tray of rotten broccolis, hairy ground beef, and an oozing fruit cup, and promptly sat in Gary's table of rejects.

Ever since her exploits during that Halloween night, an unspoken agreement had been formed between Gary and Phil. It was as if his scheme of the gym closet was simply a play of dominance from his part, as if she had passed the test and was finally deemed worthy into his circle of outcasts. Phil wasn't complaining though, at least she didn't feel entirely friendless anymore. The major benefit to it all, in Phil's opinion, was that now she was welcome to their lunch table, which was a nice break from her constant lonely lunch periods.

Today Petey and Jimmy were absent, it seemed, and Gary didn't even acknowledge her when she sat across him. His food had been pushed to the side, and sprawled in front of him on the table were notes upon notes of their math class. Gary was deeply engrossed in a sheet of paper while he scribbled and scratched and erased numbers and equations.

Over the days Phil had grown more accustomed to Gary's unstable moods, so she kept her mouth shut after noticing his demeanor tense and agitated the moment she had sat down. She chewed her food with deep distaste for a while and simply settled on silently observing him. He was struggling on whatever he was working on, it seemed. His right leg fidgeted quite noticeably, making one side of his body vibrate slightly, and his teeth were chewing painfully on his left thumbnail. Phil watched him, slightly disgusted, when he flinched suddenly, withdrew his thumb from his mouth, and realized he had drawn blood.

He suckled on the blood for a second and went back to scribbling on his sheet of paper and, without noticing or helping himself, started biting that same nail again. Phil was about to interrupt him, despite her insides knowing this would be a bad idea, but her staring must have unnerved him. Gary quickly looked up and snapped, "_What?_"

"Umm—" _Sorry for staring?_ "Nothing." _Stop biting your nails_. He glared at her and went back to working on the paper. Phil leaned forward for a better peak at what he was so focused on and he quickly moved the paper from sight and leaned forward to hide it with his body, like some kind of possessive kindergartener.

"Oh that's right! We have a quiz today in Math, right?" Phil wasn't worried about this, Math class was her forte; she always aced the Math quizzes.

"Mind your own business, will you?"

Phil didn't have time to reply back though, for at that instant Jimmy joined the scene, slumping himself hard onto the bench and rattling the wooden table upon impact. He moaned loudly in misery and leaned his torso on the tabletop. "What's wrong with you?" Phil's attention quickly shifted from Gary's fidgeting to Jimmy's sulking.

He pulled out several sheets of paper and set them in front of her, "I've been trying to get the Math homework from the nerds, but they've all written their names on it with ink. _Ink!_ How am I supposed to turn this in?"

Phil choked a laugh, "You mean you've been trying to_ steal _their math homework?"

"So what? They shit them out faster than Eunice finishes a box of chocolates! They can easily redo the homework."

"This is exactly why you're such an incompetent troll, Jimmy." Gary didn't even have to look up from his cluster of papers to spit out venom. Thankfully though, Jimmy promptly ignored him.

"Here's an idea, Einstein, how about you copy their homework to another piece of paper?" She spoke slowly, as if he was afflicted with a mental disability, just because she knew it would vex him. "And then give them their homework back!"

Jimmy's pink face lit up at her suggestion and exclaimed, "Yeah!" Phil just chuckled warmly.

Phil saw Gary roll his eyes, and just as he was about to snap an insult at Jimmy somebody approached their table, interrupting him midway. Gwen stood by Jimmy, her hands upon her hips and her eyes and lips smiling. Gwen gave Phil and Gary a wink before turning to Jimmy, "Hey Jimmy, are you ready for some tutoring?"

"What?" Phil gaped quite noticeably.

"Oh actually yeah, I'll just copy this homework at the library." Jimmy stood and folded the nerds' homework before stuffing it into his back pocket.

Gwen giggled at Phil's expression and explained with her nose up high, "Dr. Watts says I'm the best student he's ever had, and he's having me tutor—"

"The worst?" Gary almost giggled, too.

Gwen pursed her lips, her gaze on Gary narrowing. "Well Jimmy needs some help passing the next exam, so I'll be glad to help him."

Jimmy was getting ready to leave when the words left Phil's mouth before she even had time to register them, "But he's supposed to be my bodyguard!"

Her eyes rounded in slight embarrassment, but Jimmy simply waved her off with a chuckle, "Come on Phil, you'll be fine."

"Really, Phil? I'm sure that he passing Chemistry is more important to him than sticking to you like gum on a shoe and pretending to be your bodyguard, right? You really _don't_ mind." Gwen's uneasy gaze traveled from Phil to Gary, who seemed to be getting quite the kicks out of Phil's and Gwen's exchange.

_Oh but I do mind_, she almost said. Instead, Phil quickly waved them off, "It's whatever, go do your tutoring."

The table was silent for a while as Phil and Gary watched Jimmy and Gwen walk out of the cafeteria and out of sight. Once they were out of ear shot Gary turned to her, his brown eyes shining in his usual condescending manner. "Don't worry Phil, _I'll be your bodyguard!_" He mocked dramatically, his fingers almost delicately gracing the top of her hand.

Phil would have punched him, but decided that if she started a fight every time Gary acted like an insufferable prick then she would have been kicked out of Bullworth by now. "Shut up, Gary." She went back to her food and he went back to his math notes.

A cloud of gloom settled over Phil. As usual, lunch sucked today, but now Jimmy had gone off with Gwen and she was left with sociopath Gary, who was too busy biting his nails and studying for their math quiz to pay her much heed, so she was left with no one to talk to. Suddenly a thought struck her. "You know, Gord has a huge stash of weed in his locker. I'm pretty sure it's nothing he's bought from me though, he always smokes it immediately," she wasn't sure if confiding this with Gary was the wisest course of action, but she was indifferent towards Gord anyways.

He studied her face for a while until the corner of his lips twisted upwards and his eyes lit up as he asked, "You wanna steal it?"

Phil choked on a lump of broccoli. She coughed for several long seconds, her eyes tearing slightly. When she looked up he still had that amused look on his face. "You can't be serious."

"Break into his locker." His tone was aloof, as if breaking into someone's locker was as casual as going to the movies, or bringing food from town for lunch… Her confused expression only edged him on and so he suddenly got up to his feet and gathered his mess of papers into his bag. "Stop gaping like an idiot and get up! Come on!"

She paused, aghast. "What's wrong? The great, shrewd, badass, kleptomaniac, drug-dealing Phil is afraid of picking a lock and stealing a bag of pot?" He had rounded the table and was now inching closer to her, those brown eyes of his almost carnivorous.

Under any other circumstances Phil would have refused, but somehow he always managed to ignite a spark of mischief deep within her. A spark that made her forget of all the terrible things that could happen if she ever got caught breaking the rules again. She left her dirty tray on the table without a care and quickly followed Gary out of the eating hall. They ascended the stairs as fast as they dared without igniting suspicion from passerby prefects and within minutes were standing by Gord's locker.

"Here, let me show you how it's done," when they stopped Phil had been standing too close to the locker, so she took a shaky step back the moment Gary rounded on the combination lock. Phil noted he seemed to have a complete disregard for personal space, or simply tended to be oblivious to his proximity. "You twist it to the right, then wait for the click, then twist it once left and once right."

_It couldn't possibly be that easy_, Phil thought. "I can't believe I'm doing this," her whispered voice was thick with excitement, her heart thundering hard against her chest in her rush of adrenaline. Everyone was off in the cafeteria at this time, so the hallways were desolate and her whispered words sounded like screams to her ears.

She tried looking around, but Gary was leaning too close for comfort, his gaze often scanning the hallways around him in case someone walked in on them. They heard footsteps on a faraway hallway and Phil immediately panicked. She thought to give up and nearly let go of the lock, but Gary seemed to have foreseen her panic, and painfully grasped her hand and the lock, giving her a glare.

"Finish it!" He commanded.

Her grip on the lock almost slipped and Phil wanted to cry out, as his hand was beginning to crush hers. She knew it would be stupid to stop now, so she twisted the lock left—the steps were nearing now—and Gary was so close to her she could smell the soda in his breath. A click, then she twisted the lock right, and the steps grew louder, her breathing thickened, whoever was coming would see them and catch them in an instant and her mom would ship her ass off to military school—a click and the lock hung open.

Phil's cheeks reddened prettily and, seemingly having forgotten that it was _the_ Gary Smith standing right beside her, she looked up and smiled in satisfaction. He, too, was smiling, though the euphoria was absent in his eyes, "Stop staring, stupid. Open it."

The footsteps were drawing nearer and nearer so there was no time to smart back at his comment. She swung the door open and right there, standing on top of a messy pile of books and clothes and old food and mismatched knick-knacks, was Gord's hefty stash of weed.

She snatched it and pocketed it, and just at that instant Gary clamped his hand over her wrist and pulled her away roughly. Phil barely had time to think. He pulled her into a run just as a loud voice began bellowing behind them. They sprinted round a hallway, Gary's hand still tightly wrapped around her wrist, and Phil took a second to look back and realized it was a prefect who was chasing them!

Gary laughed manically ahead of her and suddenly the bell resonated throughout the hallways. People began emerging from everywhere, and Phil and Gary only laughed and dodged around lumps of students, the prefect still hot on their trail. In a moment's instant, Gary spared her a glance and her spirit only soared at the mirth in his eyes. They turned into a corner, Gary swinging the door to the emergency stairs open before pulling her in.

They skipped down the flight of stairs, jump two, three steps at a time, and when they reached the ground floor Gary took her down the hallway and out past an exit door that led to the back of the school. The sun blinded her for an instant, but they continued to press on. Phil didn't stop running until they had reached the gardens that led to Shop. It was then that Phil noticed Gary had been holding on to her wrist the entire time.

As if he had been reading her thoughts, Gary finally released his grip, and the two doubled over in a mixture of pants and laughter. She could feel the rush in her veins, the thundering of her heart, the searing in her lungs, the water in her eyes, the reddening of her cheeks. Phil looked up after a while, noticing Gary's hair had spiked awkwardly in the front from the rush of wind and his cheeks, too, had attained that foreign hue.

"You are mad," Phil breathed between pants after they had recovered somewhat.

He shrugged, "And you are just a poseur."

"Why?"

Gary pocketed his hands and turned to leave, "You play the tough guy, but when it comes to doing real _bad _things, you chicken out."

Phil ruffled the top of her hair to rearrange her bangs, a slight frown settling on her lips. Gary was quite the looker, she admitted, but all that was ruined every time he opened his mouth. "I took the weed," she pulled out the bag and waved it in-between them as if to prove something.

Again, he shrugged. "It's a start." Their eyes stared with equal intensity for a brief second, until he broke their silence, "What are you going to do with it?"

Phil knew the answer the moment she saw Gord hiding the weed into his locker earlier today. "Sell it back to the preps."

Gary smirked in approval and walked away. "_It's a start_."

**~~~ooooo~~~**

Phil hated going anywhere near jock territory (for obvious reasons), but today she had a deal with Bryce Montrose, and he had insisted that they meet in the back of the football fields. Phil had no idea how sensitive the jocks were to drugs, she had never dared bringing it up to any of them, and the fact that she was known and loathed within the jock community didn't help either. It was a dangerous affair, but Phil wasn't about to chicken out (Gary's words continued to plague her), so she knew she needed Jimmy to be there.

The sun was already setting when her legs briskly took her up the stairs that led to the boys' dorm. She swung the doors open with all the familiarity in the world—knowing that the boys didn't have someone like Mrs. Peabody to prevent trespassers—and simply walked in. Her first place to look was the game room, for Jimmy was often lounging in front of the television or getting something from the vending machine.

Instead of finding Jimmy though, Phil was surprised to see Petey watching some kind of Animal Planet documentary about whales. She smiled fondly; Petey was only weird because he was different than everyone else in this nuthouse, but he was still a pretty regular guy. She sat by his side, startling him. "Hey Petey, do you know where I might find Jimmy?"

Petey leant away from her as if she was afflicted with a highly contagious disease. "You're in the boys' dorm," his honey eyes rounded.

"_Thank you_ for stating the obvious. So, where's Jimmy?"

He eased his mannerisms towards her, realizing that he might have overreacted. "Last I saw him he said he was meeting up with Gwen to study for Chemistry—"

"_Still?_" Her tone was on the edge of exasperated, almost needy…

"Why?"

"Ugh!" Phil swung her arms up in the air and slumped herself hard onto the couch. Why did Jimmy have to require so much tutoring? Somehow, the fact that it was _Gwen_ who was tutoring him only bothered her more. Maybe she ought to not pay him today, since he barely did anything for her. "Cause I need to make a deal and I need_ him_ to be there; I don't wanna get beat up by a stupid jock."

They remained silent for a little while, Phil's attention slowly drifting to the articulate voice narrating the whale documentary on the television. Petey observed her cautiously and, when his staring began to unnerve her, she snapped, "What it is?"

"Um—" He was slightly startled.

"Spit it out."

"Why do you sale drugs?" He asked after a while.

At this, Phil shifted on her seat to face him fully. He cowered under her gaze and his demeanor annoyed her, so she brusquely replied, "To make money."

Petey seemed to have drawn up some courage, for he asked again, "No I mean, really, why do you sale drugs? There are other ways to make money…"

The stare she had on him was resilient as she weighted out her options. She could lie, or she could spill the truth and give him an insight of her life. No one in this stupid school had ever cared to ask her personal things though, so Phil decided Petey deserved the truth just for asking. "Selling pot is the easiest and fastest way I know to make money," she tsk'ed, deciding to elaborate, "About a year ago I threw this _huge_ party in my house. I did it because I knew it would surely make me the most popular girl in my high school. My best friend in Cali was in on it, too. We wanted popularity and boyfriends and to just have a damn good time. And I had it all; our house in Cali is huge. We have an enormous back yard and gardens and we have the most awesome pool. Inside, our TV is the size of the wall and we have this badass sound system and a minibar—"

"Like a mansion?" He murmured, now intrigued.

"Like a mansion. Well I invited all of my friends and all of Gwen's friends and all of my friends' friends and so on, and tons of people showed up. We had a darned good time, but they also trashed the house. The furniture and the pool and the TV all got fucked up. My parents found out the next day and grounded us for life," Phil laughed bitterly, "Well not for life, but close. And all the damages on the house were going to be paid for with our allowance. Pretty much my parents stopped giving me and Gwen money for anything, period, no questions asked.

"I almost got a job, but I had a couple druggy friends that wanted to _hook me up_ and introduced me to this supplier guy. They offered Gwen to be on it, too, but Gwen doesn't need to work for shit. She's so damn pretty and she's sweeter than cake to people,_ ugh_, it makes my tongue hurt—"

"You're pretty too; you guys are identical twins!" Petey laughed and Phil almost blushed. It didn't just take looks, Phil now knew, it also took _charm_. And she had been granted the short end of the stick in that matter.

"Well I started selling pot and shit and I kinda got used to the easy money," Phil shrugged. _Then Gwen go caught in bed with the headmaster's son and a teacher found me with a stash of weed and now mom and dad are never ever going to forgive us_. She could pretend she didn't need the drug money, but why should she lie to herself? She liked having money to spend, especially now that she lived in this foreign town full of convicts and psychiatric patients. Gwen was having a good o' time in Bullworth, why shouldn't she? "I'm not selling drugs because of some tragic event in my past that left me penniless. My parents hate me because I was just stupid and spoiled and Bullworth is my punishment. And I sell now cause otherwise I'd be broke—and because I can." And it looked like she wasn't about to start learning from her mistakes any time soon either.

They listened to the whales singing on the television for a second, Phil detailing Petey. He always looked so miserable, and he constantly allowed himself to be easy prey to Gary and every other bully in Bullworth, but why? "What's your deal, man? Why are you always letting Gary and Jimmy bully you around?" Phil blurted before she could stop herself.

His eyes rounded again in surprise and he seemed to shrink away into his seat. Phil shook his shoulder forcefully, saying, "Come on, Petey, I told you why I deal, you better not get shy on me!"

"I hate Gary," he suddenly admitted.

Now it was Phil's turn to stare, wide-eyed.

"I hate him I hate him I hate him. I can't stand the guy."

"Then why are you around him so much—"

"Because I look up to Jimmy, ok?" He almost seemed afraid of her reaction every time he spoke, only this time a sort of innate courage was brewing within him. "Jimmy might be a bit dense sometimes, but he means good. He's a good guy, you know?" Phil nodded. "And he might be the only friend I have in Bullworth…"

What about me? Well that hurts…

"Only problem is that Jimmy's always around Gary. The two seemed to be attached at the hip or something."

Phil had to laugh at this, though it was entirely untrue. She might not be as charismatic as her twin sister, but she could still sense a deep, hidden resentment towards Jimmy in Gary. Or maybe it was just her imagination. Either way she never bothered to ponder on their relationship; she wouldn't like the idea of them being_ besties_ with each other anyways. They were like water and oil, put too much of it together in a boiling pot and explosive things could happen.

"You ought to watch out for Gary, you know?" This caught her by surprise. "He uses people—"

"Petey, unlike you, I can take care of myself." Her tone had a hint of sass. She pretended to scrutinize her nails, unamused.

The small courage he had found before evaporated away. He lifted his hands up defensively and continued, "I'm just saying! You're cool, you know? You don't pick on the weak like everyone else here. And you're new, so maybe you haven't yet realized that Gary can be quite—"

"Quite the sociopath? Or so everyone tells me."

"Well if everyone tells you—"

"Petey everyone here says you're a faggot. Now am I supposed to believe that? These couple of weeks in this hellhole has made me realize that ninety percent of the shit people say about each other are lies. Gary is a decent ally to have around, and it's not like I'm about to get so close to him that he can use me or anything." Like she'd ever let herself get close to the likes of him. They might eat at the same table now and occasionally share a word or two without going at each other's throats, but he still made her cringe.

She went over to the vending machine to get a chocolate bar, but only ended up kicking the damn thing when it ate her coins and never spit out a single candy bar. Phil fumed and went back to her seat on the couch, mumbling incoherent curses. Petey giggled at her and she couldn't help but warm up to the guy. "You're pretty smart and insightful, you know? You just lack some confidence. Let me give you some advice: use your talents. My talent is entrepreneurship, and I use it even if it's in some lame and fucked up way." She winked and half-mindedly told him, "You're so smart I'd totally hire you man—"

"You mean it?" He lit up at her words.

"Umm, well, yeah. Despite what the general population believes, you need _some _wits to be a dealer." Phil watched him, slight unease brewing within her at his eagerness.

"If I sell drugs maybe people will stop thinking I'm a loser…"

_No, they'll think you're more of a loser_, she almost said, but instead allowed him to continue. "At least people here in Bullworth, you know? They'll stop calling me a faggot and they'll stop thinking I'm lame and good for nothing. I mean, it take some balls to sell drugs."

"Petey, don't get me wrong, I'm serious about you being smart and potentially being good at it, but—"

"Phil you gotta let me sell with you!"

She watched him, wide-eyed, and though half of her knew this would be a bad idea in the end, another half of her was itching to see the scenario unfold. It, indeed, would be interesting to have Petey sell for her. Thoughts of Phil becoming a drug lord in a near future began to plague her mind as she half listened to Petey's pleading; she would have kids like Petey sell for her and kids like Jimmy be her bodyguards and she imagined herself ruling the school from the top. Then she thought of Gary and shuddered.

Phil finally shushed him and agreed, "_Alright!_ Don't get your granny panties in a bunch!"

"Really?"

"Yes, you're hired." Phil half chuckled and Petey was about to blurt out graciously when behind them someone entered the game room. She turned back and her mood soared at the sight of Jimmy waltzing into the room. He had a self-satisfied look on his face that Phil initially didn't catch. She rose, berating him lightly, "_I've been looking for you!_"

"Ok! Ok!"

Phil took hold of his arm and dragged him back out of the dorms, her mind still fluttering with thoughts of grandeur and conquest, people like Petey and Jimmy at her mercy and command. Maybe then Bullworth wouldn't be such a bad place after all.

_**to be continued…**_

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**Appendix:**

**UCI**: stands for University of California, Irvine.

**Berkeley**: short for University of California, Berkeley.

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